South Korean Defense Chief Sent Drones To Pyongyang To Spark Retaliation, Justify Martial Law: Lawmakers

Former South Korean former defense chief Kim Yong-hyun ordered a swarm of drones to North Korea’s capital with hopes of provoking an attack that could be used to justify a declaration of martial law by President Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korean legislators have alleged. Meanwhile, ahead of an expected weekend impeachment vote, Yoon used an address to the nation to promise that he would fight “until the very last minute” against being removed from power.  

Kim was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged role in aiding Yoon’s attempt to impose military rule, suspend civil liberties and remove checks and balances — and attempted suicide shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Previous reports pointed to Kim’s deployment of troops to prevent lawmakers from convening after Yoon’s shocking Dec. 3 declaration of martial law. If true, the sensational new allegation from Park Beom-kye of the opposition Democratic Party suggests an entirely different layer of dangerous complicity.     

“The Defense Counterintelligence Command, where former commander Yeo In-hyung – a junior to Kim at the same high school – was posted, appears to have planned [the drone deployment],” said Park in remarks in the parliament on Monday, according to The Telegraph. Citing a “credible military source,” he later told reporters that the “drone operation appears to have been part of a larger plan, potentially tied to preparations for the martial law decree.”

In October, the North Korean government said it had detected multiple South Korean drones that were sent to Pyongyang to shower the capital city with propaganda leaflets. North Korea published a photo of what appears to be a drone that had crashed into a group of trees. At that time and again this week, the South Korean government declined to confirm or deny the accusation. 

Park’s suggestion that Kim and Yoon may have conspired to provoke a North Korean military response — with an accompanying risk of the loss of South Korean lives — adds an explosive new dimension to the country’s ongoing political crisis that followed the declaration of martial law.  

In April, Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) was routed in elections that saw the Democratic Party take over the country’s assembly by a significant margin. In the ensuing months, mounting tensions took various forms, including an impasse over the 2025 budget and Democrats’ attempt to impeach top prosecutors.  On Dec. 3, Yoon stunned South Korea and the international community with a late-night declaration of martial law. In his announcement, Yoon railed against “shameless pro-North-Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens…I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country.”

Soldiers and police immediately surrounded the National Assembly, but 190 of the 300 members of parliament managed to unanimously vote to annul the martial law declaration. Yoon retracted it and apologized, but the repercussions have continued to unfold since then. Defense chief Kim resigned upon being charged, was taken into custody on Tuesday and attempted to kill himself hours later. The country’s top two law enforcement officers have also been arrested, and police have made multiple attempts to search Yoon’s office.  

An impeachment vote last weekend failed in the face of a boycott by the ruling People Power Party (PPP), but the Democratic Party has announced it will move for impeachment again on Saturday, and some PPP members are now voicing their support. 

On Thursday, Yoon returned to the kind of fiery rhetoric he used in his martial law announcement, calling the Democratic Party “a monster” composed of  “anti-state forces.”

“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea…The opposition is now doing a sword dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?”

Yoon portrayed his martial law move as a legitimate use of government authority which should be exempt from the investigations that have been directed at it. He also claimed soldiers and police were sent to the parliament to keep order, not to thwart legislators.  

According to Associated Press, opposition parties control 192 of the National Assembly’s 300 seats. With impeachment requiring a two-thirds majority, that means pro-impeachment forces will need to win over eight members of Yoon’s PPP. Significantly, PPP chairman Han Dong-hun has called for members to send Yoon packing. Yoon’s fiery Thursday speech has helped stir discord in his party. When Han told a party meeeting that Yoon’s remarks “a confession of rebellion,” he received angry jeers from Yoon backers, who told him to be quiet.   

Polymarket speculators are convinced Yoon will leave office within the next few months. The “yes” contract on a departure before April 1 is going for 80¢. Bettors are less convinced that he’ll be out by year-end, with the “yes” on that version priced at only 12¢.