Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol sentenced to 30 years for drone provocation

A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison for his alleged role in orchestrating drone flights into North Korea. The court found that Yoon, along with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who also received a 30-year sentence, intended to provoke a military reaction from Pyongyang.

Prosecutors argued that Yoon's actions in 2024, which involved flying drones over the North Korean capital to scatter propaganda flyers calling for war, were designed to create a crisis. This, they claimed, would have provided a justification for declaring martial law in South Korea and eliminating political opponents.

Yoon's defense team countered that the drone flights were a response to North Korean balloons carrying waste that had been sent into South Korea earlier that year. While the drone incident did heighten tensions, it did not lead to military escalation.

This new conviction adds to Yoon's previous life sentence for an attempted coup in December 2024. He was removed from office after lawmakers convened parliament despite a military blockade, voting to lift the state of emergency and initiate impeachment proceedings. Yoon has been in detention since July 2025.

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The defendants used the pretext of a military operation to provoke provocations from North Korea, with the aim of creating a state of emergency.