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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's ousted conservative former President Yoon Seok-yeol faces new criminal charges Monday as prosecutors allege he flew drones over North Korea in a deliberate attempt to stoke tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law.
Yoon triggered the most serious political crisis in South Korea's recent history when he declared martial law on December 3, 2024, and sent troops to surround the National Assembly. He was later impeached and removed from office and is in prison facing trial on charges including sedition.
His successor and progressive rival, President Lee Jae-myung, passed legislation that opened independent investigations into Yoon's martial law maneuver and other criminal charges involving his wife and his government.
Yoon and two senior defense officials were charged Monday with aiding the enemy and abuse of power in connection with alleged drone flights that occurred about two months before martial law was declared, according to a special investigation team.
North Korea has accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and dropping propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024. Yun's Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially issued a vague denial, but the South Korean military later moved to say it could not confirm whether North Korea's claims were true. Any public confirmation of South Korean intelligence activities inside North Korea is highly unusual.
During this time, tensions rose sharply and North Korea threatened to respond with force, but neither side took significant action and tensions gradually eased.
When Yoon declared martial law, he briefly referred to “threats from North Korean communist forces” but focused on his disputes with the Progressive-controlled parliament, which obstructed his measures, fired senior officials and cut his government's budget. Yun called the National Assembly a “nest of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”
On Monday, Park Ji-young, a senior investigator working for independent prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, said at a news conference that her team is indicting Yoon, Kim and Yeo In-hyun, a former commander of the military counterintelligence service, over the alleged drone flight.
She said the trio “undermined the ROK's military interests by increasing the danger of armed conflict between the South and the North in order to create conditions for declaring a state of martial law,” Park said.
There was no immediate public reaction from Yoon, Kim and Ye. But Yoon's defense team said in July that Yoon claimed he was not informed about the drone flights.
In January, state prosecutors charged Yoon with allegedly leading the insurrection. This is a serious charge and conviction carries only the death penalty or life imprisonment.
South Korea has previously accused North Korea of flying its own drones over South Korea. In late 2022, South Korea fired warning shots and sent fighter jets and surveillance drones over North Korea in response to what it called the first North Korean drone flight across the border in five years.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor using a generative artificial intelligence tool.
