Seoul, Jan 2 (NationPress) A court in Seoul has issued a new warrant for the detention of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on accusations related to his purported deployment of drones to North Korea in October of the previous year.

The Seoul Central District Court justified the warrant by highlighting the potential risk of evidence tampering, as stated by the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk.

Yoon's detention, initially set to end on January 18, will now be extended for up to an additional six months, according to reports from Yonhap News Agency.

Cho's team had previously sought an extension, further indicting Yoon over the alleged drone operation, which they claim was intended to provoke a retaliatory response from the North and to serve as justification for declaring martial law in December 2024.

The team suspects Yoon directly ordered the drone commander to send drones to North Korea without notifying the defense ministry or the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This marks the third occasion of Yoon's arrest.

His first arrest occurred in January last year on charges of instigating an insurrection; however, a court later granted his request to cancel the arrest, leading to his release in March.

He faced another arrest in July, concerning his martial law intentions, including alleged misconduct for only summoning select Cabinet members before declaring the decree on December 3, and for obstructing investigators' efforts to execute an arrest warrant.

In December of last year, a Seoul court combined the insurrection trials of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and former Police Chief Cho Ji-ho, due to their connection to last year's unsuccessful martial law attempt.

This announcement was made during Yoon's trial on insurrection charges at the Seoul Central District Court, which had been held separately from those involving former military and defense officials, including Kim and Cho along with other police leadership.

The court had previously indicated it would merge the three trials as they pertain to similar facts and share common points of contention regarding insurrection charges.

Six out of the eight defendants from the three trials were present in the courtroom, including Yoon, the former defense chief, and Kim Bong-sik, the former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The bench intends to conduct witness examinations for the former defense minister during the trial on Tuesday, followed by evidence examination the following week.