Yoon receives 30 years over North Korea drone flights

A South Korean court sentenced ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday for sending military drones into North Korea, finding that the operation was intended to provoke Pyongyang and help create a pretext for his failed martial law declaration in 2024.

The Seoul Central District Court also sentenced Yoon’s former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, to 30 years. Former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung received 15 years, while former Drone Operations Command chief Kim Yong-dae was given a three-year prison term suspended for five years, the BBC reported.

The court found Yoon and Kim Yong Hyun guilty of aiding an adversary and abusing their power, according to NPR. The BBC reported that Yoon and the other officials were found guilty of treason and abuse of power.

“The defendants used the guise of a military operation to induce provocations from North Korea with the aim of creating a state of emergency,” the court said, according to the BBC. It added that the officials had “provoked North Korea,” increasing “the risk of a military conflict,” while concluding that Yoon bore the “greatest responsibility.”

The case centered on drone flights over Pyongyang in October 2024. North Korea accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital three times to drop propaganda leaflets. At the time, Kim Yong Hyun issued a vague denial before South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. Tensions rose sharply, but no military clashes followed.

Special prosecutors accused Yoon of trying to “fabricate wartime conditions” and create a warlike situation between the Koreas while plotting an authoritarian push to remove political opponents and “monopolize” power, NPR and Al Jazeera reported. Prosecutors had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon and a 25-year sentence for Kim Yong Hyun.

Yoon has denied wrongdoing. His lawyers argued that he neither ordered nor later approved the drone operation, Al Jazeera reported. They also said the flights were a legitimate response to North Korea’s earlier launches of trash-carrying balloons into South Korea. The BBC reported the balloons were found to contain “filthy waste and trash.” Yoon’s lawyers said a guilty verdict would undermine South Korea’s security interests and did not immediately say whether they would appeal, according to NPR.

The ruling adds to Yoon’s legal troubles stemming from his short-lived martial law order on Dec. 3, 2024. In a televised address that night, he accused liberal lawmakers of being North Korea-sympathizing “anti-state” forces and cited grievances including opposition-led impeachments of senior officials and cuts to his government’s budget bill.

Martial law lasted about six hours. Lawmakers broke through a blockade of soldiers and police at the National Assembly and voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it. Mass protests followed, and Yoon was suspended, impeached and removed from office by the Constitutional Court.

A South Korean court previously sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of insurrection, or rebellion, over the martial law attempt. NPR reported that both Yoon and prosecutors have appealed that verdict; prosecutors had sought a death sentence. The BBC also reported that Yoon has received a five-year sentence for abuse of power and obstructing his own arrest.

Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and remains in custody. His removal triggered a snap election won by liberal President Lee Jae-myung, ending months of political turmoil following the martial law crisis.