Special counsel questions drone command chief over NK drone allegations

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team was questioning the head of the Drone Operations Command (DOC) Thursday over allegations former President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a drone dispatch to North Korea last year to justify his future declaration of martial law. The team summoned Maj. Gen. Kim Yong-dae, head of the DOC, to its office to question him as a suspect in the case, according to legal sources. The special counsel suspects Yoon directly ordered the command to send drones to Pyongyang around October in order to incite the North's retaliation and use it as a pretext for imposing martial law. Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, but the decree was lifted following a vote by the National Assembly hours later. Cho's team has reportedly secured a recording of a phone call in which a military officer claims Yoon gave direct orders to the command without going through the defense ministry or the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The recording also suggests Kim cited an order from the president, the operation had to be carried out without the knowledge of the defense ministry and the JCS, and the drone had tWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times