South Korea ex-president gets over 30 years for sending drones into North Korea

A South Korean court condemned former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison for launching drones into North Korea.

Prosecutors claimed Yoon ordered the operation in October 2024 to irritate Pyongyang and provide an excuse for his unsuccessful martial law campaign later that year.

On December 3, Yoon imposed martial law, claiming that he was safeguarding the country from “anti-state” groups sympathetic to North Korea. But it quickly became evident that he was motivated by domestic issues, and he reversed the decision in the face of widespread protests.

Yoon was impeached and is currently serving a life sentence for insurrection in connection with his attempted martial law effort.

On Friday, the Seoul District Court convicted Yoon, his former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, former chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung, and former head of Drone Operations Command Kim Yong-dae of treason and abuse of power.

Kim was sentenced to 30 years in prison, Yeo to 15 years, and Kim Yong-dae to three years with a five-year suspended sentence. The court stated that the defendants used the guise of a military operation to provoke North Korea and create an emergency.

It also stated that all three officials had “provoked North Korea,” raising the likelihood of a military conflict, but determined that Yoon carried the “greatest responsibility” in this incident.

Yoon’s lawyers said that his acts were a “legitimate” response to North Korea’s “provocations with rubbish balloons”.

This was in reference to North Korea dropping hundreds of balloons in 2024, which were later discovered to contain “filthy waste and trash” across the border in the South.

Since the Korean War, the two countries have employed “propaganda balloons” with slogans inside to promote their campaigns.

However, tensions escalated in 2024 when North Korea accused the South of launching drones into its capital. These drones allegedly dropped propaganda leaflets all over Pyongyang, which the North interpreted as a provocation that could lead to war.

According to a judge’s verdict on Friday, Yoon deployed these drones into the North with the expectation that it would strike back.

Aside from mutiny, Yoon was sentenced to five years in prison for misuse of power and impeding his own arrest.

Yoon’s attempt to declare martial law and the subsequent protests caused months of upheaval in the country, culminating in an election in which the opposition Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung won an overwhelming mandate.