A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday, June 12, over charges linked to military drones sent over Pyongyang to fabricate a pretext for his failed December 2024 martial law declaration.
The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and aiding the enemy. The court said he'd conspired in the October 2024 drone incursion from the very beginning, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Yoon denied wrongdoing. His lawyers argued that he neither ordered nor later approved the drone operation. They claimed it wasn't related to martial law but was a response to months of North Korea launching balloons filled with rubbish across the border.
Prosecutors had already asked for a 30-year sentence in April. The ruling adds to a string of judgments against Yoon, once South Korea's top prosecutor, whose martial law order plunged Asia's fourth-largest economy into its worst political crisis in decades.
In February, another South Korean court sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection linked to the martial law attempt. He was removed from office last year when the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, triggering a snap election won by liberal President Lee Jae-myung.
Yoon is already in custody. He can appeal Friday's lower court ruling.
The October 2024 drone incursion involved South Korean military drones flying over Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. The court found that Yoon and his allies used this operation to create a security crisis that would justify declaring martial law in December 2024.
The martial law declaration failed after massive public protests and political opposition. It marked the first time since South Korea's democratisation in the 1980s that a president attempted to impose military rule.
Yoon's background as a former prosecutor general — the country's top prosecutor — made his fall particularly dramatic. He'd built a reputation for taking on corruption cases before becoming president in 2022.
Yoon's legal team has said they'll appeal the 30-year sentence. If the appeals court upholds the ruling, he'd serve this term alongside his life sentence for insurrection. In practice, the life sentence means he'll likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
The case has further deepened political divisions in South Korea. Yoon's supporters still claim he was a victim of a political witch hunt, while his opponents see the verdict as justice for an attack on democracy.
For now, Yoon remains in detention while the appeals process plays out.