South Korea's Defence ministry to launch investigative unit for martial law probe next week

SEOUL — South Korea's defence ministry said on Thursday it will launch next week its own special investigative unit to look into allegations surrounding former ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid.

The 40-member team, which will set sail Monday, will be led by the acting chief of the ministry's prosecution office, according to the ministry.

"Based on the outcome of a probe by the ministry's audit office and the special counsel team, it will conduct necessary follow-up investigations," the ministry said, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The move comes as special counsel Cho Eun-suk's investigation team, which has been looking into insurrection and treason charges regarding the martial law imposition on Dec. 3 last year, will see its mandate end Sunday.

The military's drone command faces allegations of sending drones over Pyongyang during Yoon's presidency in an apparent move to provoke the North and use it as a pretext for his imposition of martial law. A military propaganda unit is also suspected of having secretly sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea for a similar purpose.

On Wednesday, the ministry formally dismissed the former head of the Drone Operations Command.

The defence ministry said it has dismissed the head of the military's drone command from office over a special counsel probe into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law imposition.

Kim Yong-dae, former head of the Drone Operations Command, is suspected of being involved in sending drones over Pyongyang during Yoon's term in an apparent move to provoke the North and use it as a pretext for his imposition of martial law on December 3 last year.

He was indicted last month without physical detention on charges of obstructing official duties and soliciting the drafting of false official documents by a special counsel team that also charged Yoon over allegations of sending the drones.

In another dismissal of a senior official, the ministry said it also had dismissed from office Kim Dong-hyuk, the former chief of the defence ministry's prosecution office, as of Tuesday.