Yoon demands recusal of panel at trial for aiding enemy during martial law attempt
Published: 12 Jan. 2026, 17:09
![Former President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during his trial for insurrection charges at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 29, 2025. [SEOUL CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/12/f06ea86a-2067-4b99-b70f-3db5dc0199b2.jpg)
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during his trial for insurrection charges at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 29, 2025. [SEOUL CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT]
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been indicted on charges of deploying drones to Pyongyang in an attempt to militarily provoke North Korea and use it as a pretext for the Dec. 3 declaration of emergency martial law, has filed a motion seeking the recusal of the trial panel at the Seoul Central District Court.
At the first hearing in the case on charges of aiding the enemy, held Monday at the Seoul Central District Court and involving Yoon, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung, Yoon’s legal team made an oral request for the panel’s recusal. The request automatically suspended the proceedings.
Yoon’s lawyers said it is "highly unusual and unreasonable" for the court to keep the defendant in jail and move forward with the trial when the case is still at an early stage.
They noted that only the indictment has been filed so far and that no evidence has yet been examined, which "goes against basic principles of criminal trials and normal court practice."
They also said the court used interrogation records and written statements provided by the special prosecutor’s team when deciding whether to keep Yoon detained, even though "it has not yet been decided whether those materials can be admitted as evidence."
According to the lawyers, this suggests that the court may have already made up its mind about the charges before fully hearing the case.
The so-called Pyongyang drone allegation centers on claims that Yoon sent drones over Pyongyang in October 2024 to heighten military tensions with North Korea and later use that situation to justify the declaration of emergency martial law. Yoon and the others are accused of ordering the military’s drone operations command to deploy drones over Pyongyang in or around October 2025.
A special counsel team indicted the three, concluding that the offense of aiding the enemy applies because one of the drones deployed at the time crashed near Pyongyang, potentially leaking military secrets, including operational details and capabilities.
Under the charge, a person can be punished for harming South Korea’s military interests or providing military benefits to an enemy state, regardless of whether there was collusion with the enemy.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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