South Korea’s ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted Saturday on additional criminal charges related to his ill-fated imposition of martial law, about three months after he was formally thrown out of office.
Mr. Yoon’s additional indictments mean he will remain in jail for up to six months as he faces a trial at the Seoul Central District Court on his Dec. 3 martial law declaration that plunged South Korea into huge political turmoil. Mr. Yoon was sent back to prison last week after the Seoul court approved his arrest warrant requested by a team of investigators headed by independent counsel Cho Eun-suk.
Mr. Cho’s team indicted Mr. Yoon on abuse of power that obstructed the rights of some of his Cabinet members. The charge was imposed because Mr. Yoon summoned only select Cabinet members to approve his emergency martial law when South Korean law requires approval of all Cabinet members for such a measure, Park Ji-young, a senior investigator at Mr. Cho’s team, told a briefing.
Mr. Park said Mr. Yoon was also charged with fabricating an official document in an attempt to satisfy a formal requirement for a martial law declaration before he eventually destroyed it.
State prosecutors have already indicted Mr. Yoon on other criminal charges including masterminding a rebellion, a grave charge whose conviction carries only two sentences – capital punishment or life imprisonment.
After declaring martial law, Mr. Yoon sent troops and police officers to the opposition-controlled National Assembly, but enough lawmakers managed to enter an assembly chamber and voted down his decree, forcing his Cabinet to lift it. Mr. Yoon was later impeached by the assembly, with some of his ruling party lawmakers also voting to suspend his presidential powers.
Mr. Yoon has argued his decree was a desperate attempt to draw public support of his fight against the “wickedness” of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which had obstructed his agenda, impeached top officials and slashed the government’s budget bill. He earlier called the National Assembly “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”
In January, Mr. Yoon was arrested by state prosecutors. But in March, he was released from prison after a judge at the Seoul district court canceled his arrest to allow him to stand trial without being held in custody.
In April, the Constitutional Court formally dismissed Mr. Yoon as president, prompting a snap election to choose his successor. After winning that election, new President Lee Jae Myung, a former Democratic Party leader, approved legislation to launch independent investigations to uncover fuller details of Mr. Yoon’s martial law stunt and delve into other criminal allegations involving his wife and administration. Mr. Lee named Mr. Cho an independent counsel to lead an investigation on Mr. Yoon’s martial law decree.
In May, state prosecutors indicted Mr. Yoon on charges of abusing power and forcing soldiers and police officers to try to seal the assembly and election offices, acts that are not part of their duties.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.
