soul
Reuters
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South Korea’s special prosecutor on Monday indicted former President Yun Seok-yeol on additional charges of abuse of power and aiding an enemy state in connection with last year’s brief imposition of martial law.
At a press conference, a prosecutor’s spokesperson cited evidence that military personnel’s cellphones contained phrases suggesting possible provocations against North Korea, such as “drone” and “surgical attack,” and said that Yoon was trying to provoke a military conflict between North and South Korea in order to declare martial law.
Yun was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April and is currently on trial for rioting stemming from his failure to declare martial law. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.
Mr. Yoon has consistently said that he had no intention of imposing military rule, but that he declared martial law to warn of misconduct by opposition parties and protect democracy from “anti-national” elements.
Spokesperson Park Ji-young said the memo revealed that Yoon, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and former military intelligence chief Yeo In-hyun were planning to provoke North Korea into attacking South Korea.
She said the three conspired to sow tensions in the country in order to justify Mr. Yun’s declaration of martial law.
According to prosecutors, Kim and Yeo were also indicted on additional similar charges.
The special prosecution team accused Yoon and military commanders of ordering secret drone operations into North Korea to inflame tensions between neighboring countries and justify martial law.
Last October, North Korea announced that South Korea had sent a drone to scatter anti-North Korean leaflets over Pyongyang and released photos of the remains of a downed South Korean military drone.
Despite intense scrutiny and political pressure, South Korea’s military declined to comment at the time about the alleged drone operation. Defense Department officials said Monday they had no comment on the matter.
Former Defense Minister Kim is also on trial on charges related to the martial law declaration.
According to media reports, Yeo said he deeply regrets not challenging Yun’s order. A prosecutor’s spokesperson said that Yeo was making meaningless excuses regarding the notes found on his cell phone.
