Yoon becomes first Korean president convicted of treason for sending drones to Pyongyang

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been convicted of treason for orchestrating a plot involving unmanned drones infiltrating Pyongyang, a move the court determined was intended to provoke North Korea and manufacture a pretext for declaring martial law. The Seoul Central District Court handed down a 30-year sentence, marking the first time in modern Korean history that a commander-in-chief has been found guilty of treason.

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operations in October and November 2024, in which unmanned drones were flown over Pyongyang and dropped propaganda leaflets, were part of a “military operation to combat North Korea’s trash-filled balloons.

The court rejected Yoon's defense that the drone incursions were a response to North Korea's propaganda balloons. Instead, it concluded that Yoon and his then-defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, acted for private political objectives. The operation, the court found, unnecessarily depleted South Korean military resources and exposed its capabilities to the North, thereby harming national military interests – a key element in treason charges.

This ruling is anticipated to significantly influence Yoon's appeal in his insurrection case, where the timing of his decision to impose martial law is a central point of contention. The treason conviction's finding that Yoon was actively preparing for martial law since at least September 2024, by planning the drone incursions in October and November, effectively moves up the timeline established in the lower court's insurrection trial.

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justify a martial law declaration, the country needed to be plunged in a state of emergency or something adjacent to such a state,” which led them to “provoke North Korea to deliberately create a state of emergency.

Kim Yong-hyun, who served as defense minister during the period in question, also received a 30-year sentence. The court designated Yoon as a joint principal offender for authorizing the scheme, while labeling Kim as the ringleader for planning and ordering the operation. The implications of this historic treason verdict are expected to draw considerable attention as the appellate and Supreme Courts review Yoon's cases.

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resulted in the unnecessary depletion of South Korean military resources and the exposure of South Korea’s military capabilities to the North following the crash of those drones, thereby harming Seoul’s military interests, which is a key factor in identifying treasonous offenses.