_updates.jpg)
A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison for sending drones into North Korea.
On Friday, June 12, the Seoul District Court found Yoon, as well as his former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, former head of the Defence Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung and former head of Drone Operations Command Kim Young-dae guilty of treason and abuse of power.
Kim was sentenced to 30 years of jailtime, while Yeo received 15 years and Kim Young-dae received three years in prison with a five-year suspended sentence.
Prosecutors argued that Yoon ordered the operation in October 2024 to provoke Pyongyang and create a reasoning for his failed martial law bid later that year.
After declaring martial law on December 3, Yoon claimed that he was protecting the country from "anti-state" forces that sympathised with North Korea.
However, it was soon reported that the martial law call was made due to domestic troubles and the order was called off amid massive protests.
Yoon was impeached and is now serving time in prison after he was sentenced to life for insurrection over his martial law attempt.
The court said that all three officials "provoked North Korea", risking military conflict, and spotlighted that Yoon, as the president at the time, bore the "greatest responsibility".
Yoon's lawyers had argued that his actions were a "legitimate" response to North Korea's "provocations with rubbish balloons".
In 2024, North Korea dropped hundreds of balloons, containing trash and waste material, across the South Korea border.
The two countries have used such "propaganda balloons" in their campaigns since the Korean War, where messages are put inside the balloons.
However, tensions sparked when North Korea accused the South of flying drones into its capital. The drones allegedly dropped propaganda leaflets all over Pyongyang.
Notably, Yoon's martial law attempt created months of chaos in the country, ending in an election which saw the opposition Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung win a decisive mandate.
