South Korean prosecutors have indicted country’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol for abuse of power, adding to the growing list of charges against the ousted leader, who is already on trial over an alleged attempt to stage an insurrection through the imposition of martial law last December.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the special investigation team handling the case confirmed on Thursday that Yoon was indicted without physical detention. The charges include abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, marking a significant escalation in the legal cases against him.
Yoon was previously indicted in January for allegedly conspiring with former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun and others to incite an insurrection by declaring an illegal state of emergency on December 3, 2024.
Prosecutors argued there were no signs of war, armed conflict or national crisis to justify such action.
As per news agency Reuters, Yoon’s latest indictment builds on the prosecution’s ongoing effort to hold him accountable for the martial law declaration, which led to his impeachment by parliament on December 14 and subsequent removal from office on April 4.
He moved to his private residence on April 11 after resisting a search of the official presidential residence, citing the presence of sensitive classified materials.
Prosecutors recently launched a search operation at Yoon’s private home as part of a separate probe into alleged influence-peddling involving religious figures. They were reportedly looking for material suggesting connections between Yoon and religious organisations linked to the case.
Yoon now faces trial on multiple fronts as political tensions mount ahead of the presidential vote, with Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung currently leading in opinion polls by a wide margin.
