Investigation of Researcher Related to "Pyongyang Drone"
Full Probe Expected on Similarities and Delivery Process
The special investigation team on insurrection, led by Cho Eunseok, has launched a full-scale investigation into former President Yoon Sukyeol over allegations of enticing foreign aggression. Yoon is suspected of having attempted to provoke North Korean aggression in order to justify the declaration of martial law.
North Korea claimed to have discovered debris of an unmanned aerial vehicle of the same model operated by the South Korean military in Pyongyang and released related photos. Yonhap News Agency
On July 1, the special investigation team summoned a researcher from the Agency for Defense Development’s Aviation Technology Research Institute as a reference witness for questioning. This researcher was reportedly responsible for practical matters related to the delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles to the military’s Drone Operations Command.
The special investigation team is known to be verifying suspicions raised in October of last year that former President Yoon and former Defense Minister Kim Yonghyun attempted to send drones to provoke armed conflict or escalate inter-Korean tensions in order to justify the imposition of martial law.
The team is expected to investigate the overall process and circumstances of the delivery, including the similarities between the drone disclosed by North Korea and the unmanned aerial vehicles delivered by the Agency for Defense Development. The special investigation law includes provisions regarding the possibility that former President Yoon may have attempted to provoke North Korean aggression, which could constitute a crime of enticing foreign aggression.
Previously, the Agency for Defense Development, a research institute under the Ministry of National Defense, submitted a report to the National Assembly stating that the South Korean drone, which the North Korean authorities claimed had infiltrated Pyongyang in October of last year, is very similar to the unmanned aerial vehicles possessed by the military’s Drone Operations Command.
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