Anchor: A special counsel team has raided the Drone Operations Command and other military locations over allegations that former President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a covert drone incursion into North Korea to provoke a military response and justify his martial law decree. The team has reportedly identified several military units involved in carrying out or supporting the alleged drone operation. 
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: It was October of last year when the foreign ministry in Pyongyang said South Korean military drones flew over the capital city, some 210 kilometers north of the inter-Korean border. 

Saying the drones intruded on the country’s airspace three times to disseminate propaganda leaflets, the North released images purportedly showing the unmanned aerial vehicles.

A special prosecutor now suspects that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was behind the incident, attempting to provoke a military response to justify his martial law bid three months later.   

On Monday the special counsel team raided two dozen locations, including the Drone Operations Command and the Defense Counterintelligence Command, to secure evidence in the case.

Investigators are said to have recently obtained a voice recording in which a ranking officer at the drone command says his commander received an order from Yoon to carry out the drone incursions. 

The drone command is suspected of modifying unmanned aerial vehicles to make it possible for them to carry the anti-Pyongyang leaflets, despite the increased risk that the altered drones would crash to the ground.

The special prosecutor secured a fresh warrant to detain Yoon last week to prevent him from destroying evidence as the ex-president stands trial on insurrection charges.

With the drone allegations, special counsel Cho Eun-suk appears to be shifting the focus of the investigation to potential treason charges.

If it is proven that Yoon intended to invite foreign aggression, a treason charge may apply, but this is a complex issue, according to law professor Song Se-ryan of the Kyung Hee University School of Law in Seoul.

[Sound bite: Professor Song Se-ryan - Kyung Hee University School of Law]
“... this is uncharted territory. The key questions would be whether we can prove the intent, and proving the intent beyond reasonable doubt in such a high-level national security decision would be difficult. 
“And also, as you can imagine, investigating North Korea is next to impossible at this point, so that would be a difficulty. And one added difficulty is that North Korea is not explicitly written in the law as the main enemy.”

In South Korea, inducement of foreign aggression is punishable by death or life in prison.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.