
Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years for ordering drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024, adding a new layer to his martial law rebellion conviction. Appeals could keep political risk elevated.
South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for ordering drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024, a case prosecutors said was designed to heighten tensions with North Korea and justify his martial law declaration.
The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence alongside a 30-year term for former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun. The full ruling was not immediately released. The same court earlier sentenced Yoon to life in prison for a rebellion conviction tied to his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.
North Korea accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024. Kim Yong Hyun issued a vague denial before the Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. Tensions rose sharply but did not lead to military clashes.
Yoon's lawyers criticized the latest ruling, saying the drone flights were a response to North Korea flying thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South earlier in 2024. They argued a guilty verdict would undermine South Korea's security interests but did not immediately say whether they would appeal.
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 political opponents. Cho sought a 25-year term for Kim Yong Hyun, a key confidant who helped plan and mobilize forces for the martial law declaration.
Yoon announced martial law late on Dec. 3, 2024, in a televised address accusing liberal lawmakers of being North Korea-sympathizing "anti-state" forces. He cited the opposition's impeachments of senior officials and cuts to his government's budget. The decree 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.
Yoon was quickly suspended, impeached, and formally removed by the Constitutional Court. He was arrested in July 2025, and several criminal trials are ongoing. The rebellion conviction has been appealed by both Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought a death sentence.
The drone-related sentence adds a new layer to the legal saga. Appeals and further trials could keep political uncertainty elevated, though the immediate market reaction was muted with South Korean markets closed for a holiday.
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