South Korea’s former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been indicted on new charges of abusing the power of the presidency and aiding an enemy state, an official said on Monday.
A special team of investigators is probing Yoon’s short-lived bid to impose military law in South Korea in December last year. The investigating team charged Yoon with aiding the enemy state for his alleged dispatch of drones to North Korea last year, they said.
Yoon has also been accused of attempting to provoke Pyongyang’s retaliation and allegedly using it as a smokescreen to declare martial law.
The team has further charged him with abusing power during his term in office. Had it been imposed, martial law would have helped him stay as president of the country for an indefinite period.
Yoon, according to investigators, attempted to provoke a military confrontation between South and North Korea to declare martial law.
The prosecutors cited evidence found on a military official’s phone, which included some texts allegedly referring to potential provocations against the North, such as “drones” and “surgical strikes.”
South Korea’s former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun and former military intelligence chief Yeo In-hyung allegedly planned to prompt a North Korean attack on the South, the spokesperson added.
Besides the former president, the alleged duo have also been indicted on the same charges that Yoon faces, the prosecutor said.
