South Korea indicts ex-leader Yoon over power plot provoking North

Jailed erstwhile president accused of a crippled to provoke subject aggression from North to assistance consolidate his rule.

Prosecutors person indicted erstwhile South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for insurrection, accusing him of seeking to provoke subject aggression from North Korea to assistance consolidate his power.

Special authoritative Cho Eun-seok told a briefing connected Monday that his squad had indicted Yoon, 5 erstwhile furniture members, and 18 others connected insurrection charges, pursuing a six-month probe into his declaration of martial instrumentality past year.

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“To make justification for declaring martial law, they tried to lure North Korea into mounting an equipped aggression, but failed arsenic North Korea did not respond militarily,” Cho said.

Yoon plunged South Korea into a situation erstwhile helium declared martial instrumentality successful December 2024, prompting protesters and lawmakers to swarm parliament to unit a ballot against the measure.

The decree was rapidly declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and Yoon was subsequently impeached, removed from office, and jailed.

Martial instrumentality plotted for much than a year

Cho, 1 of 3 autarkic counsels appointed by South Korea’s existent president, Lee Jae Myung, to analyse the martial instrumentality declaration, said Yoon and his supporters successful the subject had plotted since astatine slightest October 2023 to present the measure.

The program progressive installing collaborators successful cardinal subject posts and removing a defence curate who opposed the scheme, Cho said.

The radical adjacent held meal parties to physique enactment for the program among subject leaders, helium added.

Cho said Yoon, his Defence Minister Kim Yong Hyun, and Yeo In-hyung, commandant of the military’s counterintelligence bureau astatine the time, had directed subject activities against North Korea since October 2024, seeking to provoke an assertive effect that would warrant the declaration of martial law.

Yoon was indicted past period for ordering drone flights carrying propaganda leaflets into the North to inflame tensions – prompting his successor, Lee, to accidental earlier this period that helium was weighing an apology to Pyongyang.

‘Antistate forces’

Cho said the provocations did not gully the expected absorption from North Korea, astir apt due to the fact that Pyongyang was tied up successful supporting Russia’s warfare successful Ukraine.

But Yoon pressed up regardless, helium said, branding his governmental opponents – including the liberal-controlled legislature and the then-leader of his ain blimpish People Power Party – arsenic “anti-state forces” successful a bid to warrant his actions.

Under South Korean law, insurrection is punishable by beingness successful situation oregon the decease penalty.

Yoon, who has been successful jailhouse since July pursuing a stint successful custody earlier successful the year, insists that his martial instrumentality declaration was intended to gully nationalist enactment for his combat against the absorption Democratic Party, which was abusing its power of parliament to cripple the enactment of the government.

“Yoon declared exigency martial instrumentality to monopolise and support powerfulness by taking power of the legislative and judiciary branches and eliminating his governmental opponents,” Cho said.