South Korea’s impeached and imprisoned President Yoon Seok-yul was formally indicted on Sunday for leading a coup last month. When they briefly imposed martial law.
Mr Yun’s indictment means his trial is likely to start soon. It follows the indictment of a former defense minister and several military generals and police chiefs, all of whom face criminal charges of aiding and abetting Mr. Yun in the same crime.
He is the first president in South Korean history to face criminal charges while in office.
His downfall began when he unexpectedly declared martial law on December 3, accusing the opposition-controlled National Assembly of “paralyzing” his government. The assembly rejected the move, forcing him to withdraw the order after about six hours. But it has ended South Korea’s worst political crisis in decades.
As people called for Mr. Yun’s removal, the assembly impeached him on December 14 and suspended him from office. The country’s constitutional court is considering whether the parliamentary impeachment was justified and whether he should be formally removed from office. Separately, criminal investigators detained Mr. Yun on Jan. 15 on charges of sedition.
From his prison cell, Mr. Yoon vows to fight to regain office.
According to opinion polls, a majority of South Koreans approve of his impeachment and consider him guilty of treason. But Mr Yun’s staunch supporters have called his impeachment a “fraud”. Some of them shocked the country when they vandalized a court in Seoul on January 19 after a judge approved a warrant for their arrest. About 60 people were arrested in connection with this unrest.
Prosecutors said Mr. Yun rebelled during the short-lived implementation of the marriage law when, they said, he banned all political activity and ordered military commanders to smash the doors of the assembly “with axes” or ” “Break” by shooting if necessary. “Drag” legislators. They said that Mr. Yun sent troops there to seize the assembly and detain political leaders.
The nation watched live-streamed footage of special forces troops armed with assault rifles storming the assembly as lawmakers gathered to vote against martial law. But Mr Yun has rejected the coup charge, saying he never intended to neutralize parliament or arrest political leaders. He said the troops were there to “keep order”.
The indictment of Mr. Yun, though not surprising, came sooner than expected.
State prosecutors are investigating former defense ministers and generals. The country’s Office of Corruption Investigation of High-ranking Officials prosecuted Mr. Yun for treason, but by law only prosecutors can indict him.
Mr Yoon has refused to cooperate with the inquiry. He and his lawyers have insisted that the four-year-old office has no right to investigate him.
On Thursday, the Corruption Investigation Office handed over his case to the prosecutors. The two had previously agreed that prosecutors had until early February to indict Mr. Yun, and that prosecutors planned to further investigate Mr. Yun’s actions.
But on Friday, a judge in a Seoul court ruled that Mr. Yoon should either be indicted early or released because the Corruption Investigation Office had already conducted an investigation.
