South Korea's ex-president indicted for abuse of power
Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending troops to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers voting down his declaration of martial law.
He became the first sitting president in the country to be taken into custody when he was detained in January after resisting arrest for weeks, using his presidential security detail to thwart investigators.
He was released on procedural grounds in March, even as his trial on insurrection charges continued.
Last week he was detained again after an arrest warrant was issued over concerns he might destroy evidence in the case.
The prosecution "indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of special official duties", prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters Saturday.
Park said Yoon also did not follow the required procedure to declare martial law, including holding a meeting with all cabinet members of the government.
Yoon was also charged with "drafting and discarding a false document" that stated the prime minister and defence minister had endorsed martial law.
Yoon has refused to attend questioning since he was detained, but appeared in court on Friday at a hearing to argue for his warrant to be cancelled.
The ex-president's legal team told reporters that Yoon defended himself for over 30 minutes, and mentioned his "limited physical mobility and the challenges he was facing".
The court denied the request.
Yoon is being held in solitary in a cell which has a fan but no air-conditioning, as a heat wave grips South Korea.
hs/fox
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
28 minutes ago
- CNN
Kim Jong Un's powerful sister says South Korea remains the ‘enemy' and there's ‘no interest' in talks
South Korea remains 'the enemy' of North Korea despite recent moves by Seoul to ease tensions along the 38th parallel, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in state media Monday. North Korea has 'no interest' in talks with the South no matter what proposal is offered, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim's comments mark North Korea's first official response since the new South Korean government took office on June 4 following months of political turmoil over the disgraced former leader Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration in December. Yoon said the martial law declaration, which the National Assembly rescinded after six hours, was necessary to fight North Korean influence among opponents to his leadership in the South Korean government. Conciliatory overtures made since President Lee Jae Myung's election hadn't erased how South Korea's military alliance with the United States had 'stained' the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, she added. The new South Korean president's reaffirmation of the US alliance shows there is no chance for improved North-South relations, the statement said. Kim said the new Lee administration would be little different from Yoon's government, describing what she called its 'blind trust' in Seoul's alliance with Washington. 'There can be no change in our state's understanding of the enemy, and they cannot turn back the hands of the clock of the history,' Kim said in Monday's statement. Former President Yoon endorsed a hardline stance against Pyongyang, bolstered by strong South Korean-US military relations, which included ramping up joint military exercises, seeing assets like a US Navy ballistic missile submarine and aircraft carriers visit South Korean ports, and participation in trilateral military exercises with Japan – also a North Korean foe – as well as the US. In its first official comments on North-South relations under the Lee administration, South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday said Seoul would continue to look for ways to engage with Pyongyang. Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam noted that Kim's comments were not especially hostile or mocking, compared to her previous statements on inter-Korean relations. But, Koo said, it shows that Pyongyang is closely watching the Lee administration's North Korea policy, while 'the wall of mistrust' between the two Koreas is 'very high.' In an attempt to ease tensions, Lee's government has suspended loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone and stopped the distribution of South Korean leaflets dropped from balloons into the North. In 2024, North Korea scrapped a longstanding policy of seeking peaceful reunification and blew up roads and bridges that could link the two countries as relations soured. In response to the road destruction in October, the South Korean military opened fire within the area south of the military demarcation line while announcing it was maintaining 'fully readiness posture under cooperation with the US.' But the new South Korean government will be less reactionary, said Koo, the Unification Ministry spokesperson. 'The government will consistently make efforts to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation and to realize coexistence of peace on the Korean Peninsula without being sensitive to North Korea's response,' he said.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mary Trump Says Uncle Donald ‘Isn't the Problem Anymore'
President Donald Trump's niece believes that while the Jeffrey Epstein files crisis might weaken him, her uncle 'isn't the problem anymore.' Mary L. Trump, 60, an outspoken critic of her father's younger brother, was responding to a question Sunday during an 'Ask Me Anything' Q&A session on X about whether she thought the Epstein files would serve as the 'catalyst for the MAGA movement ending over a period of time.' 'Maybe in the long term, but not in the short term,' Mary said. She added that, in the immediate future, the outrage among Trump's base over his handling of the late sex offender's case weakens him 'considerably.' 'This goes right to the heart of his base,' said the psychologist and author, who in 2020 published a tell-all book on Trump, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. But she's far less certain about how things will play out in the long haul, even as the Epstein files bring Trump's personal relationship with the convicted sex offender under an intensifying spotlight. 'Even if it implicates him, nobody's going to indict him,' Mary said, alluding to both the fierce loyalty Trump, 79, has cultivated within his administration and the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for 'official acts.' She then theorized, 'if it did kind of end his reign of power, J.D. Vance becomes president.' 'We need to remember this, it's really important—I'm not saying this shouldn't all play out, because of course it should,' Mary said. 'What I'm saying is, Donald Trump isn't the problem anymore. That's what I'm saying. And we need to be very, very clear about that.' During his second term, Trump has assembled a team of supporters who have fully embraced his MAGA brand of politics, unlike in his first term, when internal pushback would sometimes curb his most extreme ideas. Mary, a psychologist, said Trump is reenacting their family dynamic—one where his father, Fred Trump, controlled everyone in his orbit. She noted, however, that 'Donald is acting like he's always acted.' 'The arrogance was always there. The insecure defensiveness was always there. The bullying was always there,' she said. Mary also claimed that Trump's wild rant about windmills on Sunday is 'evidence of serious cognitive impairment.' The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Video shows Kenya protests, not mass runaways from Cambodia's internet sweatshops
Cambodian authorities arrested thousands in raids on internet scam compounds in July, but a video showing people running along a highway does not show them fleeing scam centres. The clip was actually filmed during a demonstration in Kenya, where protesters held running battles with police. "Mass escape from scam parks in Cambodia," reads the simplified Chinese text over the clip shared on July 19 on Red Note. The 45-second video showed a group of people running on a highway. It surfaced after Cambodian authorities said 2,000 people were arrested in raids, including at least 226 Chinese nationals, after Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered law enforcement and the military to clamp down on scam centres in the country in July (archived link). Workers at the centres typically use romance or business cons to defraud web users of an estimated $40 billion annually, but many say they were trafficked or lured there under false pretences. The false claim also spread elsewhere on Bilibili. Some users appear to believe the clip was filmed in Cambodia. "They are all victims," one user wrote. Another commented, "The cyber-fraud is finally over." A reverse image search on Google showed a clip showing the same scene was uploaded on TikTok on June 26 with hashtags that read "maandamano" -- or "protest" in Swahili -- and the date June 25 (archived link). The clip was shared after protesters held rallies on the day to mark a year since massive anti-government demonstrations before they turned violent, with eight killed and at least 400 injured as protesters held running battles with police (archived link). Google Street View imagery also showed the clip was filmed along Thika Road in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi (archived link). AFP has also previously fact-checked the same video. Several Kenyan media outlets mentioned the thoroughfare as one of the protest sites in their reporting, including Citizen TV Kenya (archived here). The Daily Nation published photos where the four-lane highway can be seen several times (archived link). AFP has debunked another false claim about scam centres in Cambodia here.
