A district court in Seoul, South Korea, sentenced impeached former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday on charges of abuse of power for a 2024 incident in which he ordered drones to fly into North Korea.
The 30 years, should Yoon not win an appeal, will be added on top of an already existing life sentence for the conservative ex-head of state issued in February in response to Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024, blaming North Korean communists for the need to restrict citizens’ rights. Yoon’s martial law lasted mere hours as lawmakers ran back into the National Assembly in the dead of night, elbowing soldiers tasked with imposing the decree out of their way, and voted to shut down the order to impose military rule. Yoon was arrested soon after, prompting a turbulent period in which South Korea was ruled by five presidents in six months and the leftist Democratic Party impeached Yoon’s replacements.
The country stabilized after elections in mid-2025 that brought Yoon’s 2022 presidential election rival, current President Lee Jae-myung, to power. Lee, the former leader of the Democratic Party, has vowed to use his position to punish those involved in the martial law decree to the best of his ability and has since recalibrated the country’s foreign policy to be more friendly to North Korea, a country that Seoul remains technically in a state of war against, and China.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Friday that the Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and “benefiting the enemy” for ordering drones to fly into North Korea in October 2024, inflaming tensions between the two countries. North and South Korea have technically been at war since 1950, but active hostilities in the Korean War were paused with the 1953 armistice agreement that created the “de-miitarized zone” (DMZ) between the countries and paved the way for a peace deal that has yet to be signed.
The court accused Yoon of intentionally souring relations with Pyongyang further to lay the groundwork to declare martial law, which Yoon did nearly two months after the drone incident.
“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,” the court ruling explained.
On October 24, 2024, the government of North Korea announced that it had ordered its military “fully ready to open fire” in the event of a resumption of hostilities with the South following an alleged South Korean drone flying into the country.
“Drone infiltrations were conducted by the ROK [South Korea] on October 3 and 9,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry announced at the time. “They were followed by perpetration of such a hideous crime as scattering a huge number of anti-DPRK [North Korea] smear leaflets over the central part of Pyongyang through a midnight drone infiltration on October 10.”
“Its provocation beyond the limit line constitutes an open infringement on the sacred national sovereignty and security of the DPRK and a wanton violation of the international law and a grave military attack, for which the ROK must pay a dear price,” the Foreign Ministry warned.
Contrary to leftist predecessor Moon Jae-in, who sought a personal friendship with North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un, Yoon took a hard line against the criminal communist regime, going so far as to publicly entertain the idea of a South Korean nuclear weapons program to protect the country from its rogue neighbor. Yoon ultimately dropped that consideration after then-President Joe Biden agreed to send nuclear-powered submarines to the southern port city of Busan, but maintained a position against concessions to Pyongyang.
The incident that resulted in Yoon’s impeachment and arrest occurred on December 3, 2024, when he appeared on television at night and announced that the country would now be under military rule.
“I declare martial law to protect the Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces, to immediately eradicate the unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state forces that pillage the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect free constitutional order,” Yoon said in an emergency address to the Korean people. Yoon was specifically complaining about the Democratic Party majority in the National Assembly, claiming that their obstruction of conservative legislation was a national security threat that rose to the seriousness of requiring martial law.
The vast majority of the country, including fellow members of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP), disagreed. Within hours, National Assembly lawmakers were barreling through the doors of the chamber for an emergency vote to overturn the martial law decree, with minimal resistance from the military.
Dramatic scenes of lawmakers in suits facing off against armed soldiers spread rapidly online and the martial law decree was overturned before dawn. Yoon was rapidly impeached and succeeded by a variety of interim presidents before a special election put Lee in power in 2025.
Yoon ultimately faced a variety of charges related to the martial law crisis, the most prominent one being leading an “insurrection.” The Seoul Central District Court, which convicted him on the drone charges on Friday, also found him guilty of insurrection in February, sentencing the former president to life in prison. Prosecutors sought the death penalty in that case.
“It is recognized that Yoon Suk-yeol acted with the purpose of subverting the Constitution by sending the military to the National Assembly to paralyze or limit its function for a prolonged period,” presiding Judge Ji Gwi-yeon said in the ruling.
“Martial law inherently restricts the authority of the legislature and judiciary. Therefore, a declaration of martial law alone cannot automatically be deemed an insurrection,” the ruling explained. “It is reasonable to conclude that these acts had the force to disrupt the peace not only across South Korea but at least in Seoul and the metropolitan area, where the National Assembly and the Election Commission are located.”
Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.