A Seoul court on Friday sentenced ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of ordering drone incursions into North Korea in an effort to inflame cross-border tensions and lay the groundwork for his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
The court ruled that Yoon directed the operations in October 2024 as part of a broader effort to heighten security fears and provoke a response from Pyongyang that could later be used to justify extraordinary wartime powers, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The Seoul Central District Court said the drone activity was intended to escalate military pressure on the Korean Peninsula and create conditions for imposing martial law.
The court found Yoon guilty of benefiting the enemy, abuse of power and obstruction of rights, ruling that military secrets were likely exposed after a drone crashed near Pyongyang.
“In order to create conditions for martial law, the defendants decided to use the military tactic of psychological warfare to incite North Korea and induce a provocation and use that to prompt an armed provocation, such as a local conflict, or create a national security crisis situation resulting from heightened military tension,” the court said.
It said the actions amounted to betraying public expectations that the president and defense minister would use military force only for legitimate purposes, adding that there was personal motivation behind the operation.
Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for leading an insurrection through his failed martial law bid, which lasted only a few hours before the National Assembly voted to lift it.
He faces a total of eight trials in connection with his martial law attempt, his wife’s alleged corruption and the 2023 death of a Marine officer.
Yoon was formally removed from office in April 2025 after the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld his impeachment over his Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration, triggering a snap presidential election.
