ROK's Yoon indicted for additional charges of power abuse

陈小将

SEOUL — A special counsel in the Republic of Korea on Monday indicted former president Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of "benefiting the enemy".

A spokesperson for Cho Eunsuk, special counsel leading the investigation into Yoon's insurrection and other charges, told a news briefing that the independent counsel team charged Yoon with "aiding the enemy and abuse of power".

A former defense minister and a former counter-intelligence commander were also indicted on the same charges.

The spokesperson noted that Yoon undermined the military interests of the ROK by increasing the risk of armed conflict between the two Koreas, with the aim of creating conditions for a martial law declaration.

Prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters on Monday 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".

She added that compelling evidence had been found in a memo written by Yoon's former counter-intelligence commander in October last year, which pushed to "create an unstable situation or seize an arising opportunity".

There were no immediate public responses from Yoon.

Yoon plunged the ROK into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule in December last year, sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to stop lawmakers from voting down his martial law declaration.

The ousted leader was apprehended in the presidential office on Jan 15 and was indicted while in detention on Jan 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection.

He was released on March 8, as prosecutors decided not to appeal the court's approval of his release, but he was taken into custody again on July 10.

The constitutional court upheld a motion to impeach Yoon on April 4, over his botched bid for martial law last December, officially removing him from office.