Anchor: Special prosecutor Cho Eun-seok's team wrapped up its six-month investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's December 3 martial law declaration, during which it indicted 24 people, including Yoon himself. The team concluded that Yoon had declared martial law to remove opponents and maintain a monopoly on power.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: The special counsel team assigned to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration wrapped up its six-month investigation on Sunday.

Special prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, who announced the outcome on Monday, said Yoon had declared martial law on December 3, 2024, to eliminate opposing forces and to maintain a monopoly on power.

Cho said the former president tried to paralyze the National Assembly through military deployment and to seize control of both legislative and judicial powers.

The team believes that Yoon launched drones into North Korea in an attempt to entice Pyongyang into armed provocation as justification for his martial law declaration but didn't get the expected outcome.

Then, the special counsel said, he portrayed the opposition’s legislation, impeachments and budget actions as anti-state acts by anti-state forces and declared martial law on that basis.

The investigators said Yoon also instructed troops to enter the National Election Commission as part of a scheme to fabricate accusations of vote rigging in the 2024 general elections.

The team concluded that preparations for martial law began before October 2023, based on evidence indicating the timing of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's discussion of a relevant military reshuffle.

The team said December 3 was selected as the date of the martial law declaration, not at the advice of a shaman, as rumors suggest, but to block U.S. intervention amid the disarray of the transition following its presidential election the previous month.

Investigators, however, could not find circumstances suggesting that former first lady Kim Keon-hee was directly involved in the declaration, although they believe one of Yoon's motives was to protect her from prosecution.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.