South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been charged with insurrection after he attempted to declare martial law in December.
His ill-fated attempt to impose military rule plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis and he becomes the first sitting president in South Korean history to be charged with a crime.
The indictment comes after a court in Seoul rejected a request to extend Yoon’s detention on Saturday, which meant prosecutors had to make a decision on whether to charge or release him before Monday.
“The punishment of the ringleader of insurrection now begins finally,” Han Min-soo, a spokesman from the main opposition Democratic Party told a press conference.
Yoon’s legal team criticised the indictment and pledged to expose any “illegalities in the investigation”.
“The prosecution has made a grave mistake, reducing itself to being the indictment arm of the CIO, and a tool of political interests,” Yoon’s lawyers said, referring to the Central Investigation Office for high-ranking officials.
In South Korea, insurrection is punishable by life in prison or death.
