South Korean prosecutors have formally indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, accusing him of orchestrating drone flights over North Korea to justify declaring martial law and undermining civilian rule.
The indictment follows a special investigation into Yoon’s actions in December last year, when he allegedly sought to provoke North Korea to create a pretext for emergency military rule. State prosecutor Park Ji-young said Yoon and others “conspired to create conditions that would allow the declaration of emergency martial law, increasing the risk of inter-Korean armed confrontation and harming public military interests.”
Evidence presented includes a memo from Yoon’s former counter-intelligence commander recommending targeting locations such as Pyongyang or Wonsan to provoke a North Korean response.
Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law sparked a political crisis in South Korea last December. He allegedly tried to deploy armed soldiers to parliament to prevent lawmakers from voting against his plan, but the effort failed. Yoon was detained in a dawn raid in January, marking the first time a sitting South Korean president was taken into custody. He was formally removed from office in April, with Lee Jae Myung elected as his successor in June.
The former president now faces ongoing trials for insurrection and related offenses tied to the martial law attempt. North Korea previously claimed that South Korean drones dropped propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang, although Seoul’s military has not confirmed the reports. Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, which is still technically at war since the 1950–53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
