Seoul Court Sentences Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 Years for Drone Infiltrations Into North Korea

A Seoul court on Friday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of ordering drone infiltrations into North Korea in an attempt to heighten cross-border tensions and create a basis for his martial law declaration in December 2024.

“File photo: South Korea's ousted former president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, May 12, 2025”

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Yonhap said the Seoul Central District Court convicted Yoon on charges of benefiting the enemy and abuse of power, matching special counsel Cho Eun-suk's sentencing recommendation, and recognized that Yoon ordered the operation in October 2024 to provoke Pyongyang and use the anticipated increase in cross-border tensions as a pretext for his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.

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The court also sentenced former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to 30 years in prison for his role in such operations, higher than the 25 years sought by the special counsel, and sentenced Yeo In-hyung to 15 years for his involvement in the operation.

In its ruling, the court said the defendants decided to use the military tactic of psychological warfare to incite North Korea and induce a provocation, and to use that to prompt an armed provocation or create a national security crisis situation resulting from heightened military tension.

Yoon's legal team appealed the ruling hours later, and in a press conference criticized the decision as aligning with North Korea's position, while Yonhap reported Yoon had argued the drone deployment was a legitimate military operation in response to North Korea's launches of trash-carrying balloons into South Korea in 2024.

The Global Times reported that a Chinese expert, Lü Chao of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, said Yoon's actions directly triggered an escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, posed security threats across the entire region, and exposed South Korea to a serious risk of military conflict.

Global Times also quoted the court saying, "With the purpose of creating an environment for emergency martial law, the defendants used the guise of a military operation to induce North Korea's provocation," tying the drone operation to the push for emergency martial law.

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In a separate framing, The Korea Herald said the verdict prompted a rare and strongly worded response from Seoul's Unification Ministry, which said, "A former president abandoning his responsibility for national security and the safety of the people and pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war is a historic tragedy and an act that can never be tolerated."

The Korea Herald added that the court ruled Yoon ordered the October 2024 operation to "provoke North Korea" and "heighten military tensions between the two Koreas" to create a national emergency.

It further reported that North Korea later incorporated the drone incident into its own narrative toward South Korea, with Kim Yo-jong describing Lee Jae Myung's regret as "very fortunate and wise" while stressing that the drone from the ROK violated the airspace of North Korea.

The Korea Herald said the court decision cast new light on the operation's broader afterlife beyond criminal liability, focusing on what impact it had on inter-Korean relations and how North Korea used the incident to shape its narrative toward the South.

“File photo: South Korea's ousted former president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, May 12, 2025”

Global Times

It reported that the court found Yoon ordered the operation with the intention of provoking North Korea into a military response that could create conditions necessary to justify a declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and that the ruling prompted Seoul's Unification Ministry to call the episode a historic tragedy.

The Korea Herald also described how Kim Yo-jong's statement in April stressed that "the clear fact is that the drone from the ROK violated the airspace of our country" and argued South Korean authorities could not evade responsibility "no matter who is the perpetrator".

Meanwhile, Yonhap reported that Friday's ruling marked the latest conviction for Yoon, who is currently in custody and faces multiple trials linked to his botched martial law bid, and that in February he was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through his martial law declaration.

Yonhap further said Yoon's legal team appealed the drone-infiltration ruling hours after sentencing, while Global Times reported the verdict matched special counsel Cho Eun-suk's sentencing recommendation and included charges of benefiting the enemy and abuse of power.