South Korean authorities have levelled explosive accusations against deposed President Yoon Suk Yeol, claiming he orchestrated provocations against North Korea to engineer a pretext for declaring martial law.
Special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk announced on Monday that Yoon, together with his defence minister and military leaders, plotted from as early as October 2023 to undermine parliament’s authority and replace it with an emergency legislative body. This included authorising secret drone flights into North Korean territory in October 2024, intended to spark an armed response from Pyongyang that never materialised.
The six-month investigation has led to insurrection indictments against 24 individuals, including Yoon and five former cabinet members, facing potential life sentences or the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege Yoon also aimed to discredit the April 2024 general election—where his People Power Party lost ground to Lee Jae-myung’s Democratic Party, which secured a National Assembly majority—as the result of anti-state electoral fraud. The 2024 election deepened divisions that fuelled the crisis.
On the first anniversary of Yoon’s decree earlier this month, President Lee Jae-myung had said that North Korea sending of trash balloons over to South Korea might have been provoked by Seoul’s actions, although he did not elaborate at that time, while vowing “strict accountability” for the failed plot. In July, Reuters reported attempts to arrest a drone unit commander over Yoon’s orders, and Yonhap also reported his efforts to paint the election as fraudulent.
Further legal actions target ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo with a demanded 15-year prison term, alongside arrests of Yoon’s defence minister and former intelligence chief.
The turmoil erupted on December 3, 2024 with Yoon’s surprise midnight address imposing martial law, swiftly overturned by parliament—including his own party members—within six hours, paving the way for his impeachment on December 14 and removal from office on April 4, 2025.