The former president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was indicted Monday on charges of abusing power and aiding an enemy state for his attempt to impose martial law on the country briefly last year.
Yoon allegedly tried to engineer military conflict between South and North Korea so that he could be justified in declaring martial law, according to evidence found on his cell phone.
Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun and former military intelligence chief Yeo In-hyung were also involved in the conspiracy and were indicted on the same charges, a spokesperson for North Korea said.
Yoon is accused of ordering a covert drone operation into North Korea in October. North Korea published photos of a smashed drone around the same time and said that it was dropping anti-North Korea pamphlets over Pyongyang.
At the time, South Korea did not disclose whether it had sent the drone.
Martial law was declared on December 3, but the National Assembly overturned the order within hours.
The apparent motive for declaring martial law was for Yoon to disband the National Assembly and rule by decree, turning South Korea back into an authoritarian dictatorship.
The National Assembly was able to thwart Yoon's alleged plans and he was impeached and suspended from office by the end of the month.
He, Kim, and Yeo were arrested, and Kim tried to commit suicide in prison.
Yoon and Kim have denied that the martial law attempt was a self-coup to get rid of political enemies, but Yeo said he regretted following the order from Yoon.
Yoon may also have been trying to end investigations into him and his wife, Kim Keon-hee and top officials.
His administration was plagued with dissension and a lack of consensus that made it difficult to get anything done.
Yoon was far-right politically, and his demise brought about the election of Lee Jae-myung, of the liberal Democratic Party, during a special election in April.
It's easy to see how liberals in this country could think our right-wing politicians are anti-Democratic if they use South Korean politics as an example, but let's remember that President Donald Trump has not tried to declare martial law or abolish Congress. It's just not the same, but American Democrats don't seem to get it.
