South Korean court gives ex-president Yoon 30 years over drone plot

A South Korean court on Friday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of ordering military drones to fly over Pyongyang in an effort to help justify declaring martial law in December 2024. The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Yoon abused his authority and aided the enemy, saying he was involved from the start in planning the October 2024 drone incursion into North Korea.

According to the indictment, South Korea’s military sent several drones into North Korean airspace in October 2024, including over the capital, carrying anti-regime propaganda. Prosecutors argued the operation was not mainly for intelligence gathering, but was intended to provoke a sharp North Korean response, such as gunfire, escalation, or a serious threat, in order to manufacture a national security crisis and later justify martial law.

Yoon denied the accusations. His lawyers said he did not order or approve the mission, and argued the drone incident was unrelated to the martial law declaration, instead serving as a response to months of North Korean balloon launches carrying trash across the border. Prosecutors had sought the 30-year sentence in April.

The ruling adds to a series of legal defeats for the conservative former leader, who once served as South Korea’s prosecutor general. His martial law declaration triggered the worst political crisis the country’s fourth-largest economy has faced in decades. In February, a South Korean court sentenced Yoon to life in prison after convicting him of leading an insurrection tied to the martial law attempt. He was removed from office last year after the court upheld his impeachment, which led to snap elections won by liberal President Lee Jae-myung.