South Korean prosecutors have sought a 30-year jail term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, in a case alleging he ordered a drone operation over Pyongyang to help create a pretext for his December 2024 declaration of martial law, Yonhap news agency said.
The Seoul Central District Court is expected to rule on the case at a later date.
The trial is one of eight Yoon is currently involved in after he was ousted last year following his brief declaration of martial law, which sent shockwaves through a country long viewed as one of Asia's most resilient democracies.
Prosecutors allege the drone operation heightened military tensions with North Korea and, after a drone crashed, risked exposing sensitive military information related to the mission and South Korea's capabilities.
Yoon denied the charges against him, saying he had not taken any action that could trigger a military clash with North Korea, according to his lawyers.
The former president was indicted in November last year on charges that included benefiting the enemy, which can apply even without direct collusion with an enemy if South Korea's military interests are harmed or an adversary is aided.
South Korea and the United States will cut short annual joint military drills to five days from 11 and scale back some field training, the allies said on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump ordered a substantial reduction in US participation.
At least 100 people were killed when a low-tech artisanal gold mine collapsed in the Central African Republic on Tuesday, a senior official at a local mining association said.
An Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians at a police station in Gaza on Wednesday, medics said, two days after US envoy Jared Kushner ended a trip to the region that failed to push forward Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the enclave.
Thai schools conducted active shooter drills on Wednesday, as authorities moved to strengthen security measures two weeks after a 14-year-old opened fire at a school and killed at least eight people.