The political crisis surrounding former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol took a new turn this Monday, after the Special Prosecutor’s Office handling his case filed new charges against him. Prosecutors accuse him of abuse of power and “benefiting an enemy state”, following the alleged sending of drones to North Korea with the aim of fueling tension between the two neighbors in 2024. The accusations are part of the judicial process opened by him last December, an episode that led to one of the biggest scandals in recent decades in Asian democracy, in the region.
As reported this afternoon (early morning in Spanish peninsular time) by the spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office, Park Ji-young, he maintains that Yoon tried to provoke a military conflict between the two Koreas – which are officially still at war, after the signing of an armistice in 1953 – that would serve as a pretext to declare the emergency regime.
“[Yoon] and others conspired to create the conditions that would allow emergency martial law to be declared, thus increasing the risk of an armed confrontation and harming the military interests of the State,” Park declared in a press conference, reports the South Korean Yonhap agency.
Park explained that the accusation is based on a memorandum written in October 2024 by the then head of counterintelligence in which he urged “creating an unstable situation or taking advantage of an opportunity that arises” to increase tension and support the decision to declare the extreme measure. According to the Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson, the document indicated that the Army should target key places for Pyongyang “so that the response is inevitable.”
Investigators have also filed charges against three senior military officials involved in the case: former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, former head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, Yeo In-hyun, and head of Drone Operations Command, Kim Yong-dae. The first two are accused of collaboration with the enemy and abuse of power, while the third faces lighter crimes, for obstructing official functions and requesting the drafting of false documentation to cover up the operation.
In October last year, Pyongyang denounced that Seoul had sent drones to the North Korean capital to drop leaflets against Kim Jong-un’s government, and published photographs of the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone. The South Korean Armed Forces avoided commenting on the alleged operation at that time, a dynamic that has continued this Monday. The Ministry of Defense has reported that it will not comment while the judicial process continues, according to Yonhap.
Although prosecutors had initially considered charging Yoon with “incitement of foreign aggression”—a crime that requires evidence of conspiracy—they ultimately opted for the charge of “benefiting the enemy,” concluding that sending drones led to the leak of military secrets.
Yoon, 64, was , which opened the door for justice to move forward investigating other criminal charges related to . Yoon has since been formally charged with leading an insurrection and while the criminal trial in this case continues. If found guilty, the former leader could spend the rest of his life behind bars or even be sentenced to capital punishment, although there has been a moratorium on this since 1997.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office led by Cho is an autonomous body within the judicial system created in the summer and has extraordinary powers to issue court orders, carry out searches, interrogate suspects and request arrest warrants against senior officials if it deems necessary. He had previously accused Yoon of ignoring legal procedures and the consent of his own cabinet to proclaim a state of emergency.
Yoon has maintained throughout these months that he sought to “alert about the irregularities committed by the opposition” (which he accused of sympathizing with North Korea) and “protect democracy from anti-state activities.”
