Agency Report
South Korea‘s former President Yoon Suk Yeol is to be additionally indicted for abuse of authority, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The new indictment comes as Yoon stands trial for leading an insurrection over his brief declaration of martial law in early December.
The country’s Constitutional Court stripped Yoon of all power and privileges in April and also upheld a parliamentary motion to impeach him.
Yoon has not been detained for this additional charge, Yonhap says, citing the prosecutor’s office.
“We have since proceeded with the [insurrection] trial while conducting supplementary investigations into the abuse of power allegation, leading to this additional indictment,” prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.
The additional charge was announced a day after investigators raided Yoon’s private residence in the capital, Seoul.
The search is part of a probe into bribery allegations involving Yoon’s wife Kim Keon Hee and a shaman accused of receiving lavish gifts on behalf of the former first lady.
Yoon’s insurrection trial
Yoon was first charged in January, when he was still president as “the ringleader of an insurrection,” a charge not covered by presidential immunity.
If convicted of the insurrection charge, Yoon could be sentenced to life in prison.
He could theoretically face the death penalty, but South Korea hasn’t executed anyone since 1997 and handed out its last death sentence in 2018.
With Yoon out of office, South Korea is set to hold a snap election on June 3.
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