A court in Seoul has sentenced former South Korean President Yun Seok Yeol to 30 years in prison. He was found guilty of ordering the launch of drones into North Korea in October 2024.
This is reported by the Yonhap agency.
The Seoul Central District Court concluded that by launching the drones, Yun Seok Yeol wanted to provoke Pyongyang to respond and create a pretext for martial law, which he declared in December of that year. For this, he was already sentenced to life imprisonment in February of this year.
Now the court has found the former president guilty on charges of abuse of power and giving advantages to the enemy. They say the decision to carry out the operation went beyond the legitimate use of military force and contradicted the head of stateʼs duty to act solely in the interests of national security.
Along with the ex-president, other figures in the case were also sentenced: the former Minister of Defense — 30 years in prison, the former head of military counterintelligence — 15 years, and the former commander of the drone operations unit — three years suspended with a probationary period of five years.
Lawyers for Yoon Seok Yeol said they would appeal the verdict, arguing that the drone launch was a response to North Koreaʼs provocations, including the launch of garbage balloons in 2024.
Martial law in South Korea
On the night of December 3-4, 2024, then-President of South Korea Yun Seok Yeol declared martial law in the country to “protect the constitutional order” — the first time since the 1980s. The reason was that the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, rejected the government’s budget proposal and decided to impeach the state auditor and the attorney general. In total, martial law lasted about six hours, but caused an acute internal crisis.
On January 15, 2025, Yun Seok Yeol was arrested. He is currently in detention. He is accused of sedition, abuse of power, and aiding an enemy state. The Constitutional Court of South Korea removed Yun Seok Yeol from office on April 4 in a unanimous verdict.
Former South Korean first lady Kim Geun Hee was arrested on August 13 on charges of involvement in a stock manipulation scheme, election interference, and bribery. She and former President Yoon Seok Yeol became the first former presidential spouses to be detained at the same time.
A Korean court in the same case also sentenced former Prime Minister Han Deok Soo to 23 years in prison. The court concluded that Han suggested that then-President Yun Seok-yeol convene a cabinet meeting before declaring martial law.
According to the court, the former prime minister did not object to the declaration of martial law and called on the Minister of Internal Affairs to stop the supply of electricity and water to opposition media outlets.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.