South Korea’s impeached and arrested President, Yoon Suk Yeol, was formally indicted on Sunday on charges of leading an insurrection last month when he briefly imposed martial law.
Yoon’s indictment means that his trial is likely to start soon. It follows the indictments of a former defence minister and several military generals and police chiefs, all of whom face criminal charges of helping Yoon commit the same crime.
He is the first President in South Korean history to face criminal charges while still in office.
His downfall began when he unexpectedly declared martial law on December 3, accusing the opposition-controlled National Assembly of “paralysing” his government. The Assembly voted the measure down, forcing him to rescind the order after about six hours. But it has set off South Korea’s worst political crisis in decades.
As people called for Yoon’s ouster, the Assembly impeached him on December 14, suspending him from office. The country’s Constitutional Court is deliberating whether the parliamentary impeachment was legitimate and if he should be formally removed from office. Separately, criminal investigators detained Yoon on the insurrection charges on January 15.
From his jail cell, Yoon has vowed to fight to regain office.
A majority of South Koreans approved of his impeachment and consider him guilty of insurrection, according to public opinion polls. But Yoon’s die-hard supporters have called his impeachment “fraud”. Some of them shocked the country when they vandalised a courthouse in Seoul after one of its judges approved a warrant to arrest him on January 19. Nearly 60 people were arrested in connection with that unrest.
Prosecutors said that Yoon committed insurrection during the short-lived imposition of marital law when, they said, he banned all political activities and ordered military commanders to break the Assembly’s doors down “with axes” or “by shooting, if necessary” and “drag out” lawmakers. They said Yoon sent the troops there to seize the Assembly and detain political leaders.
New York Times News Service
