Seoul: Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team announced on Sunday the detention of the head of the Drone Operations Command, Maj. Gen. Kim Yong-dae. The team has also sought a warrant for his formal arrest concerning charges linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged martial law attempt.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Maj. Gen. Kim was detained on Friday without a warrant, following an inquiry by the special counsel team. The charges against him include benefiting the enemy, drafting fabricated documents, and abuse of power. These charges are tied to accusations that he acted on Yoon's orders to send drones to North Korea last year, ostensibly to set the stage for a martial law declaration by the former president.
The special counsel team issued a statement to the press, saying, "At 2 p.m. today, we requested an arrest warrant for Commander Kim. We requested the arrest warrant based on crimes we have verified so far, as there was reason to place him in custody."
With Kim now in custody, the investigation is expected to delve further into accusations that Yoon incited foreign aggression by ordering the drone dispatch. The team suspects Yoon bypassed the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), directly issuing the order to provoke retaliation from the North, thereby justifying the imposition of martial law.
Kim has denied the allegations, maintaining that the drone operation adhered to legal procedures under JCS instructions and was unrelated to any martial law attempt.