South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol and his former defense minister were sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday in a case alleging Yoon ordered drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to heighten tensions with North Korea and justify declaring martial law at home. According to reports from Yonhap news agency, the Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and aiding the enemy, ruling that he had conspired in the October 2024 drone incursion over Pyongyang from the outset. The court spokesperson confirmed that Yoon was "given 30 years in jail" for the charges. The same court had earlier sentenced Yoon to life in prison for a rebellion conviction over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024. Yoon had denied any wrongdoing over the drone incursion, with his lawyers arguing he neither ordered nor approved the operation, which they said was unrelated to martial law and instead a response to months of North Korean launches across the border of balloons stuffed with rubbish.
The Seoul Central District Court delivered a comprehensive ruling against Yoon and his former defense minister Kim Yong Hyun, finding them guilty of aiding an adversary and abusing their power. As reported by Yonhap news agency, the court stated that the defendants "sought to provoke North Korea into launching armed attacks or other serious provocations against South Korea to manufacture a national emergency." The ruling emphasized that the moves "harmed South Korea's military interests by exposing its capabilities, undermining its ability to conduct future operations and prompting North Korea to strengthen its defense posture." Investigators led by special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon, accusing him of trying to create a warlike situation between the Koreas while plotting an authoritarian push to remove his political opponents and "monopolize" power. They had sought a 25-year prison term for Kim Yong Hyun, a key confidant of Yoon who helped plan and mobilize forces for Yoon's martial law declaration.
Yoon's lawyers criticised the latest ruling, arguing that the drone flights were a response to North Korea flying thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South earlier in 2024. According to Yonhap news agency, they argued that a guilty verdict would undermine South Korea's security interests but did not immediately say whether they would appeal Friday's lower court ruling. The verdict in the most serious case, of rebellion, has been appealed both by Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought a death sentence. Prosecutors had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon in April, with the latest ruling aligning with their earlier demands. Special prosecutors had previously argued that Yoon's effort to "fabricate wartime conditions" with the drones had undermined state security.
Yoon proceeded with the martial law declaration late in the night of December 3, 2024, delivering a televised address in which he accused liberal lawmakers of being North Korea-sympathizing "anti-state" forces. As reported by Yonhap news agency, he cited a range of grievances, but particularly the opposition's impeachments of senior officials and cuts to his government's budget bill. Martial law lasted about six hours until lawmakers broke through a blockade of soldiers and police at the National Assembly and voted to overturn it, forcing Yoon's Cabinet to lift the measure. In February, a South Korean court had sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection linked to the martial law attempt. Yoon has appealed against the conviction, insisting that he declared martial law "solely for the sake of the nation."
Yoon was quickly suspended from office, impeached and formally removed by the Constitutional Court. According to Yonhap news agency, he was arrested in July 2025 and several criminal trials are ongoing. The embattled former president has appealed the earlier rulings against him and can appeal Friday's lower court ruling. Yoon was removed from office last year after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, triggering a snap election that was won by liberal President Lee Jae Myung. The ruling adds to a series of judgements against the ousted conservative leader, once South Korea's top prosecutor, whose martial law order plunged Asia's fourth-largest economy into its deepest political turmoil in decades. Drone flights remain a flashpoint in tensions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
