South Korean prosecutors have charged impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over the state of emergency decree
South Korean prosecutors on Sunday charged ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol with sedition in connection with his brief imposition of martial law, news reports said, a criminal charge that could send him to death or life in prison if convicted.
This is the latest blow to Yoon, who was impeached and arrested over the Dec. 3 state of emergency decree that plunged the country into political turmoil. Separate from the criminal court proceedings, the Constitutional Court is now deciding whether to formally remove Yoon as president or reinstate him.
South Korean media, including the Yonhap news agency, reported that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office charged Yoon with sedition. Calls to the prosecution and Yoon’s lawyers went unanswered.
Yoon, a conservative, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, calling his martial law a legitimate act of governance aimed at raising public awareness of the dangers of the liberal-controlled National Assembly, which has obstructed his plan and impeached top officials. During his state of emergency announcement, Yoon called the assembly a “den of criminals” and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korean followers and anti-state forces.”
After declaring martial law on December 3, Yoon sent the military and police into the assembly, but enough lawmakers still managed to enter the assembly hall to unanimously vote down Yoon’s decree, forcing his cabinet to rescind it.
The imposition of a state of emergency, the first of its kind in South Korea in more than 40 years, lasted just six hours. However, it brought back painful memories of past dictatorial rules in the 1960s and 1980s when military-backed rulers used states of emergency and martial law decrees to suppress opponents.
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned by authorities on Wednesday in connection with a criminal sedition investigation. He said he was only cooperating with what he called an illegal investigation to avoid violence. An estimated 3,000 police officers were deployed to Yoon’s presidential compound and brought wire cutters and ladders.
South Korea’s constitution gives the president the power to declare a state of emergency to maintain order in times of war and similar emergencies, but many experts say the country was not in such conditions when Yoon declared the state of emergency.
Yoon insists that he had no intention of disrupting the work of the assembly, including the vote on his ordinance, and that the deployment of troops and police was aimed at maintaining order. But commanders of military units sent to the assembly told parliamentary hearings or investigators that Yoon ordered them to extract the lawmakers.
