South Korea court sentences ex-President Yoon to 30-year jail term over drone incursion

The latest verdict is adding to multiple legal setbacks faced by the former president

FILE PHOTO: Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at a court to attend a hearing to review his arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea, Jul 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File Photo

A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday for charges linked to his ordering an incursion of military drones over North Koreato help create a pretext for his failed December 2024 martial law declaration.

The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, saying he had conspired in the October 2024 drone incursion over Pyongyang from the outset, according to a court statement.

The ruling adds to a series of judgments against the ousted conservative leader, once South Korea's top prosecutor, whose martial law order plunged Asia's fourth-largest economy into its deepest political turmoil in decades.

Yoon had denied any wrongdoing over the drone incursion.

His lawyers said he neither ordered nor later approved the operation, which they said was unrelated to martial law and instead a response to months of North Korean launches across the border of balloons stuffed with rubbish.

Prosecutors had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon in April.

In February, a South Korean court sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection linked to the martial law attempt.

He was removed from office last year after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, triggering a snap election that was won by liberal President Lee Jae Myung.

Yoon, who is already in custody, can appeal Friday's lower court ruling. The embattled former president has appealed the earlier rulings against him.