Yoon Suk Yeol indicted for 'aiding enemy', abuse of power
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South Korea indicts ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of "aiding the enemy" and abuse of power after drone provocations against the DPRK.
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South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol attends his criminal trial at a courtroom of the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul Monday, April 21, 2025. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on Monday on charges of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, following allegations that he ordered drone flights over the DPRK in an attempt to justify a declaration of martial law.
The indictment comes after a special investigation was launched to examine whether Yoon deliberately provoked the DPRK to create grounds for imposing military rule.
The investigation stemmed from DPRK claims last year that drones from the South had dropped propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang, an allegation that South Korea's military has not confirmed.
Prosecutor Park Ji-young said that charges of "benefiting the enemy in general and of abuse of power" were filed against Yoon. Park explained 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."
The special counsel's case is supported by a memo written in October last year by Yoon’s former counter-intelligence commanderm, reportedly detailing plans to "create an unstable situation or seize an arising opportunity."
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Memo reveals plan to provoke DPRK response
The memo advised targeting locations in the DPRK "that must make them lose face so that a response is inevitable, such as Pyongyang" or the coastal city of Wonsan. Prosecutors say this aligns with Yoon's alleged goal of manufacturing a national security crisis to justify emergency measures.
Yoon is also on trial for insurrection and other offences linked to his failed effort to impose martial law. In December of last year, he sent armed soldiers to parliament in an attempt to block lawmakers from voting down his emergency powers. The move plunged South Korea into a political crisis.
That effort failed, and Yoon was arrested in a dawn raid in January. He was removed from office in April and was succeeded by Lee Jae Myung following the general election in June.
South Korea and the DPRK remain technically at war, as the 1950–53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
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