The special prosecutor team led by prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, who are currently investigating former President Yoon Suk-yeol, has asked for an arrest warrant for General Kim Yong-dae - commander of the Korean Unmanned Actor Command.
Kim was arrested on July 18, after which the prosecution team officially requested the court to approve the arrest warrant on July 20. He was suspected of treason, forging documents and abusing power. However, the arrest warrant was issued based on accusations of forging documents.
The investigation revolves around the suspicion that Mr. Yoon ordered the implementation of a UAV operation to invade North Korea's airspace to cause tension, creating a premise for declaring martial law in December 2024. The former president has denied all allegations.
Mr. Kim stated that the UAV mission was carried out in response to the Joint Chiefs of Staff's direction, in response to North Korea's sending of junk balls to South Korea, not under orders from Mr. Yoon. However, prosecutors suspect that the platoon under Kim received orders directly from Mr. Yoon, ignoring the formal military process.
Documents released by Democratic Secretary Boo Seung-chan show a company receiving orders to deploy UAVs on October 15, 2024, but only one took off. A statement from the unit's internal staff said they were asked to report the UAV "disappearing for unknown reasons". However, the device appeared to have fallen in the Pyongyang area a few days earlier.
North Korea called the UAV incursion an act of "political purpose" and warned that it would retaliate strongly if the incident occurred again. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense said that North Korea's statement did not need to be verified.
Yoon was re-arrested on July 10 for fearing he could destroy evidence. Although he refused to be questioned, he went to court on July 18 to request the arrest warrant to be revoked, but was unsuccessful.
