Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years over North Korea drone flights

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was handed a 30‑year prison term on Friday by the Seoul Central District Court for allegedly ordering drone flights over North Korea in an effort to legitimize his brief martial law declaration. The same court also sentenced former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun in the related case, though the exact length of Kim’s term was not specified in the ruling.

Yoon, who is 65, had already been convicted of leading an insurrection after his December 2024 martial law order and is currently serving a life sentence for that offense. Both Yoon and the prosecution have appealed the insurrection verdict; prosecutors had originally sought the death penalty.

The drone‑flight accusation stems from three reported sorties over Pyongyang in October 2024, during which North Korea claimed the aircraft dropped propaganda leaflets. South Korea’s Defense Ministry initially offered only a vague denial, later stating it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. Prosecutors argued that Yoon used the flights to manufacture a crisis with the North, thereby providing a pretext for consolidating power and sidelining political opponents.

Yoon maintains that he possessed the constitutional authority to impose martial law and said his intention was to highlight what he viewed as obstruction by opposition parties. The martial law decree lasted roughly six hours before lawmakers, responding to mass public protests, voted to overturn it. Although the incident heightened tensions between the two Koreas, no armed clashes followed.

Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and continues to face additional criminal proceedings related to the events surrounding his martial law attempt. The court’s latest decision adds another layer to a legal saga that has already drawn significant domestic and international attention.