Seoul: A Seoul court on Friday sentenced ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on charges of ordering drone infiltrations into North Korea in a bid to escalate inter-Korean tensions and create a pretext for his martial law declaration in December 2024.
According to Anadolu Agency, the court found Yoon guilty of directing the drone operations as part of an effort to heighten security concerns and justify extraordinary measures under martial law.
The Seoul Central District Court said Yoon ordered the drone operations around October 2024 in an attempt to escalate military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and induce a response from North Korea that could later be used to justify the imposition of martial law.
The court found Yoon guilty of benefiting the enemy, abuse of power, and obstruction of the exercise 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" the people's expectation that the president and the defense minister would use military force only for legitimate purposes, adding that there was a 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.