Former President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, once impeached, has been convicted on charges related to escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. A court ruled that Yoon orchestrated a drone mission over North Korea to create justification for imposing martial law, aiming for authoritarian rule in 2024.
Yoon, 65, faced multiple criminal charges since his removal from office last year, including a conviction for masterminding an insurrection that led to a life sentence in February. On Friday, he received an additional 30-year prison sentence for the drone operation, marking him as the first former South Korean president to be convicted of this crime.
A three-judge panel of the Seoul Central District Court found that in late 2024, Yoon and his allies deployed drones across the heavily guarded inter-Korean border. Their objective was to provoke military tensions with North Korea, which Yoon planned to use as a pretext for declaring martial law.
A special prosecutor labeled the drone mission an “anti-state and anti-national crime” and sought a 30-year sentence. Alongside Yoon, his former defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, also received a 30-year sentence. Another co-conspirator, Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyong, received 15 years. Both had previously been sentenced for assisting in Yoon’s martial law declaration.
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