South Korea’s ousted president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is facing more criminal charges amid allegations he ordered drone flights over North Korea.
Prosecutors allege the move was a deliberate bid to stoke tensions with North Korea and justify Mr Yoon’s plans to declare martial law.
Senior investigators said Mr Yoon had increased the “danger of a South-North armed conflict” as part of attempts to create an “environment” to justify enforcing military law on civilians.
The former conservative president plunged South Korea into a constitutional crisis when he imposed martial law on 3 December 2024.
Soldiers surrounded the National Assembly and clashed with protesters in the capital Seoul in scenes which shocked the world.
Mr Yoon was later impeached and removed from office and is in jail, standing trial on charges, including masterminding a rebellion.
Mr Yoon has said consistently he never intended to impose military rule but declared martial law to sound the alarm about wrongdoing by opposition parties and to protect democracy from “antistate” elements.
On Monday, Mr Yoon and two of his top defence officials were charged with benefiting the enemy and committing abuse of power over their alleged drone flights.
The two other indicted officials are Yeo In-hyung, the former commander of the military’s counterintelligence agency, and ex-defence minister Kim Yong Hyun.
A special investigation team said the apparent drone flights came about two months before Mr Yoon’s declaration of martial law.
Read more: Why Yoon was removed from office
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Martial law suspends all existing laws – meaning there can be a suspension of normal civil rights and military law can be enforced on the civilian population.
North Korea had accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024.
Tensions rose sharply at the time and North Korea threatened to respond with force.
On Monday, senior investigator Park Ji-young said Mr Yoon and the two other officials had “undermined the military interests” of the country and increased the “danger of a South-North armed conflict”.
She said the purpose was to create an “environment for declaring emergency martial law”.
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Ms Park revealed memos had been found in Mr Yeo’s mobile phone, some of which she alleged suggested likely plots to trigger tensions with North Korea.
Wordings included “creating an unstable situation”, “drones” and “targets like Pyongyang” that could force North Korea to respond because of “a loss of its face”, she added.
Ms Park said she will not give any further explanation on the memos due to concerns about leaks of military secrets.
There was no immediate response from Mr Yoon, Mr Kim or Mr Yeo. However, Mr Yoon’s defence team said in July that he maintained he was not informed of the drone flights.
