Key facts
- Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and ex-defense minister Kim Yong Hyun were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
- The sentences are for ordering drone flights over North Korea and charges of aiding an adversary and abusing power.
- Prosecutors argued the drone flights were intended to create a pretext for a martial law declaration.
- Yoon is already serving a life sentence for insurrection related to a 2024 martial law decree.
- Yoon's lawyers are appealing the drone case ruling, claiming the flights were a response to North Korean actions.
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his ex-defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, have been sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Seoul Central District Court for allegedly ordering drone flights over North Korea in October 2024. The court found them guilty of aiding an adversary and abusing power, stating their actions sought to provoke North Korea into launching attacks to justify a domestic martial law declaration.
Yoon is already serving a life sentence for insurrection related to his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. Prosecutors argued that the drone flights were part of a plot to create a warlike situation and pave the way for authoritarian measures against political opponents. The drone incursions, which North Korea claimed involved propaganda leaflet drops, significantly heightened military tensions between the two Koreas.
Yoon's lawyers have appealed the ruling, asserting the drone flights were a response to North Korean trash balloon launches and that a guilty verdict would harm national security. They also deny Yoon ordered or approved the drone operations. The martial law declaration, lasting about six hours, was overturned by lawmakers. Yoon was subsequently impeached, removed from office, arrested in July 2025, and faces other ongoing trials.