South Korean Ex-President Yoon Gets 30 Years for Drone Crisis
A South Korean court sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years for aiding the enemy and abuse of power related to alleged drone incursions over North Korea to justify his failed martial law decree.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled Friday that Yoon conspired in an October 2024 drone operation over Pyongyang from the beginning, according to New York Post. The court found the former leader guilty of deliberately creating a pretext for his subsequent martial law declaration, which sent shockwaves through Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Yoon, who previously served as South Korea’s top prosecutor before his presidency, has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to the drone incursion. His legal team argued he neither ordered nor approved the military operation, which they contended was an independent response to months of North Korean provocations involving balloons carrying garbage across the border.
Prosecutors requested the 30-year sentence in April, as New York Post reports. This latest conviction adds to mounting legal troubles for the conservative leader, who already faces a life sentence imposed in February after a separate court found him guilty of leading an insurrection connected to the martial law attempt.
The Constitutional Court upheld Yoon’s impeachment and removal from office last year, triggering a snap election that brought liberal President Lee Jae Myung to power. The political crisis marked one of the deepest periods of turmoil in modern South Korean history.
Yoon, currently in custody, retains the right to appeal Friday’s lower court ruling. He has already filed appeals against previous convictions in what has become a protracted legal battle for the disgraced former president.
With information from New York Post
