Seoul: A special counsel team announced Monday that it has identified indicators suggesting a military unit initiated preparations for martial law during the first half of 2024, months prior to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's formal declaration in December of the same year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, special counsel Kwon Chang-young's team provided an update on its investigation into the allegations surrounding the ousted former president, particularly focusing on his unsuccessful attempt to implement martial law. This investigation aims to cover aspects not fully addressed by previous special counsels.

Assistant special counsel Kim Ji-mi, during a briefing, confirmed that the Defense Counterintelligence Command had begun preparing for martial law early in 2024. However, she refrained from detailing the specific actions taken by the military unit in these preparations.

The team's findings support an earlier assertion by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, who proposed that Yoon had been orchestrating his martial law strategy well before publicly announcing it on December 3, 2024.

In February, a district court handed Yoon a life sentence for leading an insurrection through his martial law decree but concluded that he had decided to declare martial law only two days beforehand. The court did not accept arguments from Cho's team suggesting that Yoon had started planning the martial law, in collaboration with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, before October 2023.

Cho's team has since appealed the lower court's decision, contending that Yoon's declaration was a calculated move rather than a "spontaneous response."

The Defense Counterintelligence Command faces accusations of participating in martial law actions on the night of Yoon's declaration, including alleged attempts to deploy troops to the National Assembly and the national election watchdog.