On Oct. 19, 2024, North Korea printed photographs of the wreckage of a drone that crashed in Pyongyang, claiming it was of the identical make and mannequin as these utilized by the South Korean navy. (KCNA/Yonhap)
The particular counsel staff investigating final yr’s martial legislation disaster on Monday charged former President Yoon Suk-yeol, his former protection minister and his former counterintelligence commander with making an attempt to lure North Korea right into a navy battle by finishing up an operation that despatched drones to infiltrate Pyongyang in October 2024.
Yoon and two of his closest collaborators — former Protection Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Protection Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyeong — had been indicted on expenses of “benefiting the enemy,” against the law that falls beneath the treason provisions of South Korea’s prison code, utilized when an actor harms the navy pursuits of South Korea or offers navy advantages to an enemy state.
This indictment marks the primary time that expenses of treason have been pressed within the ongoing investigation into the abortive self-coup on Dec. 3, 2024.
Yoon Suk-yeol, Kim Yong-hyun, and Yeo In-hyeong charged with treason
After beforehand charging Yoon, Kim and Yeo with planning and executing an rebel, particular counsel Cho Eun-seok and his staff of investigators moreover indicted the three on expenses of treason and abuse of authority.
The previous head of the Drone Operations Command, Kim Yong-dae, who gave instructions for the drone operations, was indicted with out detention on expenses together with giving directions to break navy property and leaking navy secrets and techniques.
“Yoon, Kim and others conspired to undermine the navy pursuits of the Republic of Korea by growing the danger of armed battle between North and South Korea for the aim of making circumstances for declaring martial legislation,” Park Ji-yeong, a deputy to the particular counsel, mentioned Monday.
“That is a completely insupportable act that might endanger public security,” she careworn.
Yoon stays in custody after being detained in July by the particular counsel. Cho’s staff plans to make use of the treason-related expenses to file for a warrant to carry Yoon in detention. If issued, the warrant will lengthen the interval that the particular counsel can maintain Yoon in detention, which is at present set to run out in early January.
Particular counsel “shocked and horrified” at verified suspicions
The particular counsel staff concluded that Yoon, Kim and others orchestrated the Pyongyang drone infiltration operation to impress North Korea to retaliate and precipitate a battle that will justify the declaration of martial legislation. The particular counsel defined that the staff’s preliminary suspicions had been finally confirmed via the method of investigation.
“The method of substantiating [our conjectures] via proof left everybody concerned within the investigation feeling devastated, past mere disappointment,” Park, the deputy particular counsel, mentioned. “For most people, these findings will carry a shock and terror higher than that triggered by the declaration of martial legislation.”
The particular counsel staff introduced notes from Yeo’s cell phone as key proof that the drone infiltration of Pyongyang carried out final October and November was carried out to safe a pretext for declaring martial legislation.
Yeo, together with Kim, is a member of Yoon’s “Choongam crew,” made up of fellow graduates of the previous president’s alma mater, Choongam Excessive College. This group of high-ranking officers in Yoon’s administration is seen as having performed a vital function within the martial legislation disaster.
The particular investigation staff alleges that Yeo carried out the navy operation with full consciousness of the purpose to facilitate declaring a state of emergency.
“We should discover and exploit a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to attain speedy ends in an unstable scenario,” the previous commander wrote the next in his cell phone at 2:06 pm on Oct. 18, 2024, in line with memos secured by the particular probe.
By way of technique, Yeo wrote that the drones needed to “goal [locations] that harm [North Korea’s] sense of delight so [it is] compelled to reply.” The record of potential targets included Pyongyang, two nuclear services, Lake Samji (Samjiyon) and different websites necessary to North Korean nationwide id, town of Wonsan, which is a well-liked vacationer web site, and Kim Jong-un’s trip dwelling.
On the backside of the memo, Yeo wrote, “The ultimate state is the normalization of low-intensity drone battle.” This phrase means that drones had been despatched to key services in Pyongyang to impress a response, inducing navy battle between the 2 Koreas.
Different incriminating items of proof embrace a memo that Yeo left on his telephone on Oct. 27, 2024, which learn, “Prioritize arrest and search/seizure for violating the [martial law] proclamation” and an inventory of names jotted down on Nov. 9 the identical yr — “Lee Jae Myung, Cho Kuk, Han Dong-hoon, Jung Chung-rae, Kim Min-seok,” amongst others — who had been certainly later listed as targets for arrest by Yeo’s Protection Counterintelligence Command throughout martial legislation.
Taking these notes under consideration, the particular counsel concluded that the Pyongyang drone operation was clearly meant to create the circumstances for declaring martial legislation.
Nonetheless, Kim Yong-dae, the pinnacle of the Drone Operations Command who executed the drone operation, was not charged with treason.
“Regardless that a common navy operation was carried out excessively, intent is essential. [Kim Yong-dae] might have thought of the operation a response to North Korea’s trash balloons,” Park Ji-yeong mentioned, explaining that the indictment for treason was “restricted to these with a acutely aware function [of committing treason].”
Particular probe concludes Yoon started planning to declare state of emergency in October 2023
Moreover, based mostly on writings discovered within the pocket book of Roh Sang-won, a shadowy former Protection Intelligence Command chief seen as having had a key function within the disaster, investigators concluded that Yoon’s discussions and preparations for martial legislation occurred round October 2023, coinciding with the timing of his appointments of navy generals.
Roh’s memo listed names of navy generals, together with Yeo In-hyeong; So Hyeong-gi, appointed as chief of workers of the Protection Counterintelligence Command; Park An-su; Kim Heung-jun, chief of workers of the Military Headquarters; and Son Sik, head of Floor Operations Command. All of those people had been candidates for promotion or personnel modifications round October 2023.
The particular probe staff had beforehand prompt in Yoon’s indictment that discussions on martial legislation started at a gathering at a safehouse in Seoul’s Samcheong neighborhood in March final yr. Nonetheless, the staff’s new findings point out that discussions on martial legislation had begun 5 months earlier.
“Components of Roh Sang-won’s memos, as soon as thought of obscure or groundless, have been confirmed as truth. It seems there was a starting stage,” Park defined. “Since these plans had been realized to a sure diploma, [the special counsel] included the facets which have been confirmed as crimes dedicated.”
By Kang Jae-gu, workers reporter
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