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Special counsel notifies ex-President Yoon to appear for questioning next week

Published: 20 Sep. 2025, 10:07

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on July 9 after his pretrial detention hearing. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A special counsel team on Saturday notified ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol to appear for questioning next week over allegations related to his failed martial law bid.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team said it issued the summons to Yoon to appear for questioning at the Seoul High Prosecutors Office on Wednesday.

The team is expected to question Yoon on charges of whether he incited foreign aggression by ordering a drone dispatch to Pyongyang in October ahead of his short-lived declaration of martial law in December.

It would be the first time investigators attempt to question him over the allegation of inciting foreign aggression.

Yoon, who has been in custody since July, has been standing trial on charges of leading an insurrection and abusing his power through the martial law bid.

It remains unclear whether Yoon would appear, as he has refused to cooperate with the special counsel's probe and attend his insurrection trial since July.

The team suspects Yoon of giving direct orders to the Drone Operations Command to dispatch drones to Pyongyang in an attempt to provoke North Korean military responses and allegedly create a pretext for the martial law imposition.

Former drone command chief Maj. Gen. Kim Yong-dae, ex-Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo and Lt. Gen. Lee Seung-oh, the JCS operations chief, have already been questioned over the allegations.

The commanders have denied any link between the drone dispatch and Yoon's martial law, arguing the operations were part of response measures to the North's balloon campaigns against the South.

Yonhap