Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sought to provoke a North Korean military response to justify his martial law attempt, an independent team of special prosecutors concluded Monday after a six-month investigation into the country’s unprecedented emergency declaration last year.

The head of the special counsel team on Insurrection and Foreign Aggression Cho Eun-suk said investigators determined that Yoon, beginning in Oct. 2024, directed or condoned a series of “abnormal military operations” designed to pressure Pyongyang into military action.