Overview
- The special counsel charged Yoon Suk Yeol with benefiting the enemy and abuse of power over alleged October 2024 drone operations intended to help justify a December martial law bid.
- Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun and ex-counterintelligence chief Yeo In-hyung were indicted on the same counts, while Drone Operations Command head Kim Yong-dae was charged without detention for obstruction and falsifying documents.
- Prosecutors said they chose the lesser standard of “benefiting the enemy in general” after judging evidence insufficient to prove a conspiracy with a hostile state.
- Forensic analysis of a senior officer’s phone uncovered notes referencing “create instability,” “drones,” and targets such as Pyongyang, which prosecutors presented as evidence of intent.
- Yoon was removed from office in April and remains jailed on an ongoing insurrection trial, as the special counsel narrows charges to senior actors and continues work on the martial law aspects of the probe.