South Korea: Investigators recommend impeached President Yoon be charged with insurrection, abuse of power

South Korean investigators recommended Thursday that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be charged with insurrection and abuse of power, as they handed over the results of their probe into his ill-fated declaration of martial law to prosecutors.

The official charges against Yoon were “leading an insurrection and abuse of power”, the Corruption Investigation Office said after a 51-day probe into his December 3 attempt to suspend civilian rule.

The CIO said it “decided to request the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office file charges against the sitting President, Yoon Suk Yeol, in connection with allegations including leading insurrection”.

Yoon had “conspired with the former Minister of National Defense and military commanders on December 3, 2024,” it said.

The leader, currently suspended from duties, “declared martial law with the intent to exclude state authority or disrupt the constitutional order, thereby inciting riots”.

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Under the South Korean legal system, the case file of the suspect – identified as “Yoon Suk Yeol: president” – will now be handed to prosecutors, who have 11 days to decide whether to charge him, which would lead to a criminal trial.

The prosecutors’ office has “complied with the CIO’s request for a case transfer,” the investigators said.

Yoon was arrested in a dawn raid last week on insurrection charges, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be detained in a criminal probe.

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South Korea was plunged into political chaos by Yoon’s move botched martial law declaration, which lasted just six hours before lawmakers voted it down. They later impeached him, stripping him of his duties.

Since his arrest, Yoon has refused to be questioned by the CIO, which is in charge of the criminal probe.

His lawyers have repeatedly said the CIO has no authority to investigate insurrection.

‘Abused authority’

During the night of December 3, Yoon purportedly ordered troops to storm the National Assembly and prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.

The CIO said its probe found that Yoon “abused their authority by compelling police officers from the National Assembly Guard Unit and martial law forces to perform duties beyond their obligations”.

He also “obstructed the exercise of lawmakers’ rights to demand the lifting of martial law”, it added.

Yoon has denied instructing top military commanders to “drag out” lawmakers from parliament to prevent them from voting down his decree.

Yoon, who remains head of state, is being held in a detention centre.

The president and his legal team have sought to justify his attempt to suspend civilian rule as a necessary measure due to election fraud after the opposition won parliamentary elections in a landslide last year.

In addition to the criminal probe, he is also facing a Constitutional Court case, where judges will decide whether to uphold his impeachment, which would officially remove him from office.

If the court rules against Yoon, he will lose the presidency and elections will be called within 60 days.

Yoon, who attended a court hearing this week, is expected to appear again Thursday when the judges will call witnesses to hear details of how martial law unfolded.