South Korea's Special Investigation Team on Internal Affairs announced on the 20th that, in the afternoon, it had applied to the court for an arrest warrant for Kim Yong-dae, the Commander of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Operations Command, believing he conspired with former President Yoon Suk-yeol, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and others to send drones to Pyongyang, thereby provoking a military retaliatory response from North Korea.
On the 14th, the special investigation team conducted a comprehensive search and seizure at 24 military-related sites, including the military’s UAV Operations Command, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Defense Counterintelligence Command, officially investigating allegations that Yoon Suk-yeol committed acts endangering national security. On the 17th, the team summoned Kim Yong-dae for a 13-hour interrogation on suspicion of falsifying official documents, abuse of power, and obstruction of official duties.
The special investigation team stated that, due to concerns about Kim Yong-dae fleeing or destroying evidence, he was urgently arrested on the 18th, and an arrest warrant was applied for based on confirmed criminal facts. The investigation team had previously obtained audio recordings showing that during October to November last year, Yoon Suk-yeol bypassed the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to directly instruct the UAV Operations Command to send drones to Pyongyang. They also found evidence that the department, while knowing that the modified drones might crash, still dispatched them to Pyongyang to provoke retaliation from the North.