Former South Korean President indicted for aiding enemy state over martial law bid

South Korea’s special prosecutor has indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on new charges, including aiding an enemy state and abuse of power, related to his short-lived imposition of martial law last year.

Prosecutors opened a special investigation earlier this year to determine whether the former President ordered drone flights over North Korea to provoke Pyongyang and strengthen his effort to declare military rule.

The prosecutor leading the special counsel team stated that Yoon and others "conspired to create conditions that would allow the declaration of emergency martial law, thereby increasing the risk of inter-Korean armed confrontation and harming public military interests."

Compelling evidence was reportedly found in a memo written by the former President’s counter-intelligence commander last October, which explicitly pushed to "create an unstable situation or seize an arising opportunity." The memo suggested the military should target places "that must make them [North Korea] lose face so that a response is inevitable, such as Pyongyang" or the major coastal city of Wonsan.

Yoon was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April and is currently on trial for insurrection and other charges stemming from his failed martial law declaration. If found guilty, he could face a death sentence.

The former leader has consistently maintained that he never intended to impose military rule. He stated he declared martial law only to sound the alarm about wrongdoing by opposition parties and to protect democracy from "antistate" elements.

Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.