South Korean court sentences Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison
A Seoul court gave Yoon Suk Yeol 30 years for a drone-incursion plot that helped justify martial law, deepening South Korea's crisis over civilian control of the military.
The Seoul Central District Court handed former President Yoon Suk Yeol a 30-year prison sentence on Friday, saying the drone-incursion case was part of a broader effort to escalate tensions with North Korea and create the conditions for his failed martial-law declaration. The ruling treated the episode as a direct test of South Korea’s democracy, military accountability, and the limits of power at the top.
Judges found Yoon guilty of aiding the enemy and abusing power, and said he conspired from the outset in the October 2024 drone incursion over Pyongyang. Prosecutors said the operation was meant to provoke North Korea into retaliation and generate a national emergency that could justify extraordinary rule at home. The court also said the operation harmed South Korea’s military interests by exposing capabilities and pushing North Korea to strengthen its own defenses.
The sentence matched the term sought by the special counsel for Yoon. The court also imposed 30 years on former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, 15 years on Yeo In-hyung, the former head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, and a three-year prison term suspended for five years on Kim Yong-dae, the former chief of the Drone Operations Command. Reported special-counsel allegations said more than 10 drones were sent into North Korea from October to November 2024 as part of an effort to draw a response from Pyongyang.
North Korea publicly accused South Korea of drone incursions over Pyongyang in October 2024, and Kim Jong Un convened a national defense and security meeting to discuss how to respond. Days later, Yoon declared martial law on December 3, 2024, setting off the sharpest political crisis of his presidency. The decree lasted about six hours before the National Assembly voted 190-0 to demand its withdrawal.
Yoon’s political downfall deepened after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment in an 8-0 ruling on April 4, 2025, formally removing him from office. Lee Jae-myung won the snap presidential election on June 3, 2025, in the backlash that followed. Yoon is already in custody and can appeal, but Friday’s sentence, along with his earlier life sentence in a separate rebellion case tied to the martial-law episode, has made any return to power effectively impossible.
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