On Sunday, South Korean prosecutors charged former President Yoon Suk Yeol with rebellion linked to his brief imposition of martial law. The charge is a serious one, with potential penalties including the death sentence or life imprisonment if Yoon is convicted.

This legal action adds to the mounting challenges faced by Yoon, who was previously impeached and arrested over his Dec. 3 decision to implement martial law. This move caused significant political unrest in the country. Alongside these criminal proceedings, South Korea's Constitutional Court is currently reviewing whether to remove Yoon from office or officially restore him to power.

South Korean news agencies, including Yonhap, reported that Yoon has been indicted for rebellion by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Attempts to the prosecutors' office and Yoon’s legal team for comment were unsuccessful.

Yoon, a conservative politician, has consistently denied the allegations, asserting that his imposition of martial law was a necessary step to highlight the dangers posed by the liberal-controlled National Assembly, which he claims was obstructing his policies and had impeached key officials.

When announcing the imposition of martial law, Yoon described the assembly as "a den of criminals" and vowed to remove "shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces."

On December 3, after declaring martial law, Yoon deployed troops and police officers to the assembly. However, despite this, enough lawmakers could enter the chamber and voted unanimously to reject Yoon's decree, compelling his Cabinet to rescind it.

This martial law declaration was the first in South Korea in over 40 years and lasted only six hours. It revived painful memories of past authoritarian regimes from the 1960s to the 1980s when military-backed governments used martial law and emergency powers to silence opposition.

According to South Korea’s constitution, the president can declare martial law during war or comparable emergencies. However, many experts argue that the country was not in such a state when Yoon declared.

Yoon maintains that his intention was not to disrupt the assembly’s work or vote on the decree and that deploying troops and police was simply to maintain order. Yet, military commanders involved in the operation have testified that Yoon ordered them to remove lawmakers from the assembly forcibly.