South Korean prosecutors seek approval for drone chief arrest over operation in North Korea
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Maj-Gen Kim Yong-dae, the chief of a military drone unit, was arrested on July 18 without a court warrant.
PHOTO: EPA
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SEOUL – South Korean prosecutors said on July 20 that they had sought court approval to detain the head of a military drone unit as part of an investigation into former president Yoon Suk Yeol and a drone operation in neighbouring North Korea.
Prosecutors stepped up a probe into the drone operation after indicting the jailed Yoon on July 19 on additional charges for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December.
They had summoned the unit’s chief, Major-General Kim Yong-dae, on July 17 regarding accusations that Yoon ordered a covert drone operation into the North in 2024 to inflame tension between the neighbours to justify his martial law decree.
Yoon has denied the accusations.
Maj-Gen Kim told reporters the incident was part of a “clandestine military operation” in response to trash balloons sent from the North and not intended to provoke the neighbouring nation.
In October, North Korea said the South had sent drones to scatter anti-North Korea leaflets over Pyongyang, and published photos of the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone.
South Korea at the time declined to disclose whether it had sent the drones.
In a statement on July 20, the prosecution office said it had sought an arrest warrant for Kim. Media reports said a court hearing was planned for the afternoon of July 21 to review the request for a warrant.
Maj-Gen Kim was arrested on July 18 without a court warrant, media said. Prosecutors and police are permitted to make an “emergency arrest” if they have a strong belief that someone is guilty of a serious crime and may flee or destroy evidence. REUTERS
