South Korea's e president Yoon gets 30 years over North Korea drone incident
A South Korean court sentenced e president Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday (June 12, 2026) for sending military drones into
A South Korean court sentenced e president Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday (June 12, 2026) for sending military drones into North Korea, saying he planned the action as a pretext for his disastrous martial law declaration in 2024. The drone flights two months before Yoon suspended civilian rule had sparked anger in Pyongyang, which accused the South of dropping propaganda leaflets as well. Judges said Yoon intended to provoke Pyongyang âinto carrying out armed or equivalent acts against South Koreaâs military of peopleâ, according to a summary of their ruling seen by AFP. Yoon planned to âheighten inter-Korean military tensions and manufacture a national crisisâ, so his martial law could have been justified, they added.
The former president was given 30 years in jail over the drone incursion, a spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court told AFP on Friday (June 12, 2026). Yoon is in detention while he appeals a life sentence for leading an insurrection with his martial law declaration. He insists that he declared martial law âsolely for the sake of the nationâ. His defence has also denied the charge over the drones, arguing that the operation was in response to North Korea sending balloons carrying trash across the border that year. On Friday (June 12, 2026), the courtâs judges said the 2024 drone operation âentailed the use of South Koreaâs military capabilities for private purposesâ.
The judges added that powers vested in the president, including supreme command of the armed forces and the authority to declare martial law, must be exercised to protect the nationâs survival and security. But Yoon approved the military drone operation, âbelieving he could arbitrarily use such powers for his own political gain,â the judges said. âMost hostileâ Yoonâs late-night national televised address in December 2024 that suspended civilian rule plunged South Korea into an unprecedented political crisis. Martial law lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. However, it triggered protests, sent the stock market plunging and caught key allies like the United States off guard.
Yoon is facing multiple legal cases, and Lee Jae Myung was elected President after months of political chaos in the country. Drone flights remain a flashpoint in tensions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war. In an incident unrelated to Yoonâs drone case, South Korean investigators found that government officials had sent drones into the nuclear-armed North in January. President Lee expressed regret earlier this year over the incident. North Korean leader Kim Jong Unâs powerful sister called Mr. Leeâs statement âwise behaviourâ, but hopes for a rapprochement faded after the diplomatically isolated nation returned to calling the South its âmost hostileâ enemy.