Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted Thursday for abuse of power over his martial law declaration, prosecutors said, adding to the impeached ex-leader’s legal jeopardy.
The new indictment without detention comes as Yoon stands trial for orchestrating an insurrection with his December 3 martial law attempt, which sought to suspend civilian rule in democratic South Korea.
Armed soldiers were deployed to parliament under the decree, but the order lasted only around six hours as it was swiftly voted down by opposition MPs, who scaled fences to enter the building. They later impeached Yoon over the martial law declaration.
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Yoon, 64, was stripped of all power and privileges in April by the Constitutional Court, which upheld the impeachment motion. He was soon forced to move out of the presidential residence.
Prosecutors first indicted Yoon in January — when he was still president — as “the ringleader of an insurrection”, a charge not covered by presidential immunity.
“We have since proceeded with the (insurrection) trial while conducting supplementary investigations into the abuse of power allegation, leading to this additional indictment,” prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.
Yoon was arrested in mid-January after a days-long standoff with authorities over the insurrection charge, but was released in March on procedural grounds.
The fresh charge comes a day after investigators raided Yoon’s private residence in Seoul as part of a probe into bribery allegations involving his wife Kim Keon Hee and a shaman accused of receiving lavish gifts on behalf of the former first lady.
Legal woes
Legal troubles are mounting for Yoon and his wife Kim in cases unrelated to his martial law attempt.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that a shaman, Jeon Seong-bae, received a diamond necklace, a luxury handbag, and ginseng — a popular health tonic that can cost thousands — from a senior official of the Unification Church and passed them on to Kim.
The Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office has also reopened an investigation into Kim’s alleged involvement in stock manipulation in a case previously dropped against her when Yoon was in power.
The former president is additionally facing allegations that he unlawfully meddled in his party’s nomination process for parliamentary candidates as president-elect in 2022.
Yoon has denied any wrongdoing in the cases.
If convicted of the insurrection charge, Yoon could be sentenced to life in prison or to death — although South Korea has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 1997.
Yoon was the second South Korean president to be removed from office, and the third to be impeached by parliament.
With him out of office, South Korea is set to hold a snap election on June 3.
AFP
