A South Korean court on Friday sentenced former president Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison for his role in ordering a military drone incursion over North Korea.
The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, concluding that he conspired to launch the drone operation over Pyongyang from its inception.
Prosecutors had sought the 30-year term in April.
The court said the incursion was meant to create a pretext for his failed martial law declaration, which plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into its deepest political turmoil in decades in late 2024.
North Korea accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024. South Korea’s then defence minister, Kim Yong Hyun, issued a vague denial before his ministry said that it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. Tensions rose sharply, but did not lead to any military clashes.
Kim was also convicted alongside Yoon and given a similar sentence.
Yoon, once South Korea’s top prosecutor, consistently denied wrongdoing during the trial. His lawyers argued that he neither ordered nor approved the operation, asserting that it was a legitimate response to North Korean provocations, specifically the launch of rubbish-filled balloons from across the border. They argued a guilty verdict would undermine South Korea’s security interests, but didn’t immediately say whether they would appeal.
Yoon was earlier convicted of leading an insurrection linked to his martial law attempt and given a life sentence in February.
He had been removed from office last year after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment by the parliament, leading to a snap presidential election that was won by liberal Lee Jae Myung.
The embattled former leader, already in custody, retains the right to appeal Friday’s lower court ruling, having already appealed previous judgements against him.
