Ousted President Yoon Indicted Over Alleged Drone Flights Into Pyongyang — Prosecutors Say Flights Helped Set Stage for Martial Law

Former president faces new criminal charges over October 2024 drone operations

Former conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol has been indicted on fresh criminal charges after prosecutors said he ordered or permitted drone flights into North Korea that prosecutors allege were intended to inflame tensions and create a pretext for declaring martial law.

Yoon precipitated a major political crisis when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and ordered troops to surround the National Assembly. He was subsequently impeached, removed from office and is now jailed while standing trial on multiple counts, including an earlier indictment alleging he directed a rebellion.

On Monday, a special investigation team said Yoon and two senior defense officials — Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun and Yeo In-hyung, the former head of the military’s counterintelligence agency — were charged with benefitting the enemy and abuse of power for allegedly conducting or authorizing drone flights roughly two months before the martial law declaration.

North Korea accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang three times in October 2024 to drop propaganda leaflets. South Korea’s military initially declined to publicly confirm the North’s claim; such acknowledgement of operations inside North Korean territory would be highly unusual.

Park Ji-young, a senior investigator working for independent counsel Cho Eun-suk, said the trio "undermined the military interests of the Republic of Korea by increasing the danger of a South-North armed conflict with the purpose of setting up an environment for declaring emergency martial law."

Investigators say the alleged flights sharply raised tensions — North Korea threatened retaliation — although neither side ultimately launched major military action and the crisis subsided over time.

Yoon’s legal team has previously said he was not informed of the drone operations. There were no immediate public comments from Yoon, Kim or Yeo following the new indictment.

Separately, in January state prosecutors charged Yoon with directing a rebellion, an allegation that — if proven and convicted under South Korean law — carries the possibility of the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Context

Seoul has long accused Pyongyang of conducting its own cross-border drone activity. In late 2022, South Korea responded to North Korean drone incursions by firing warning shots, scrambling fighter jets and flying surveillance drones.

This indictment adds to a portfolio of high-profile legal cases that have rooted the former president at the center of one of South Korea’s most serious political and security crises in decades.