Ex-South Korea president indicted on new charges of aiding enemy

South Korean prosecutors on Monday filed new charges against former president Yoon Suk Yeol, accusing him of aiding the enemy by ordering drone flights over North Korea to justify declaring martial law.

Prosecutors allege that Yoon, who was ousted earlier this year, conspired with senior military officials to provoke Pyongyang into retaliation, creating the conditions necessary for him to impose emergency military rule.

“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,” Prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters.

Park said the special counsel team has charged Yoon with benefiting the enemy and abuse of power, citing evidence including a memo written by the former counter-intelligence commander in October last year. The memo allegedly proposed creating “an unstable situation or seizing an arising opportunity” and suggested targeting key North Korean cities such as Pyongyang or Wonsan to provoke a response.

North Korea claimed last year that it had “proved” the South was sending drones to drop propaganda leaflets over its capital — an allegation Seoul’s military never confirmed. The operation is now central to the investigation into Yoon’s alleged abuse of authority.

The two Koreas remain technically at war, as the 1950–53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Yoon triggered a constitutional crisis in December last year when he deployed armed troops to parliament in an attempt to block lawmakers from overturning his declaration of martial law. The effort failed, and he was detained in a dawn raid in January — the first time a sitting South Korean president has been taken into custody.

He was formally removed from office in April, and Lee Jae Myung won the presidency in June’s general election.

Yoon is already standing trial for insurrection and other offences linked to the failed martial law attempt, with the latest indictment adding to the growing list of serious charges against him.