South Korea: Special counsel indicts Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of power abuse in martial law declaration

Ex-FM Cho Tae-yul summoned for questioning in martial law probe

SEOUL — A special counsel team indicted former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday on charges of abuse of authority over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

It marks Yoon's third indictment with detention following previous ones in January and in March related to his martial law declaration on December 3 and other power abuse charges.

According to the team led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, Yoon is accused of violating the rights of Cabinet members during the martial law deliberation process, retroactively drafting the martial law declaration, ordering the deletion of records from encrypted phones and other offences.

The team had attempted to question Yoon multiple times since his second detention last week, but failed as Yoon declined to appear, Yonhap news agency reported.

On Friday, a court had dismissed Yoon Suk Yeol's petition against his arrest, keeping him in custody over his failed attempt to impose martial law.

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The Seoul Central District Court issued the ruling hours after concluding a hearing that reviewed the legality of Yoon's arrest and whether it should remain in place.

"Based on the results of our questioning of the suspect and the case records, it was recognised that the request was without reason and dismissed," the bench had said.

The ousted president had filed for the review on Wednesday, less than a week after he was placed under arrest at the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, just south of the capital, over five key charges related to his martial law bid in December.

The closed-door hearing at the court began at 10:15 am on Friday and ended around six hours later after Yoon's lawyers and special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team presented contrary arguments for and against his release.

Yoon's lawyers had reportedly stressed that the criminal charges levelled against him cannot be supported and that he poses no risk of destroying evidence.

In particular, they sought to highlight that the five key charges the special counsel team listed on the arrest warrant -- including his alleged violation of the rights of Cabinet members and his alleged creation of a false martial law document -- were already covered under the insurrection charge for which Yoon is currently standing trial.

South Korea: Ex-FM Cho summoned for questioning in martial law probe

Former South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul was summoned for questioning on Saturday by a special counsel team responsible for the investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to impose martial law.

"We are questioning Cho," the team said in a brief statement released to the media.

Cho was summoned as a person of interest, not a suspect, for questioning regarding the circumstances surrounding a Cabinet meeting held shortly before Yoon declared martial law on December 3. He was among the select Cabinet members who attended the meeting.

The special counsel also plans to question Cho about a foreign ministry spokesperson's distribution of controversial press guidance defending the martial law declaration to foreign media on December 5.

Cho had reportedly learned of Yoon's plan after attending the meeting and strongly opposed it.

According to his testimony to the special counsel in December, Cho initially believed the emergency Cabinet meeting was related to contact with then-US President-elect Donald Trump.

When Yoon declared martial law, he reportedly handed Cho a sheet of paper containing instructions for diplomatic missions on how to operate under martial law.

Cho reportedly urged Yoon to reconsider, warning that the move could undermine South Korea's democratic progress built over the past 70 years. Yoon allegedly did not relent, saying the decision was not made for personal reasons.

Despite Cho's opposition, martial law was enforced. A staff member from the presidential office later asked him to sign a related document, which he refused to do, according to his account, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on July 16, a special counsel team had also launched a raid on the home of former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Cho Tae-yong as part of its investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to impose martial law.

The team, led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, had also raided seven other locations over the "destruction of evidence following the insurrection," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young told reporters, referring to the martial law bid in December.

The former NIS director was suspected of having helped delete records from secure phones used by Yoon and former NIS deputy director Hong Jang-won after the martial law attempt had failed.