South Korea's ex-president Yoon gets 30 years over North Korea drone incident

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Updated - June 12, 2026 11:34 am IST - Seoul Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. File | Photo Credit: Reuters A South Korean court sentenced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday (June 12, 2026) for sending military drones into North Korea, saying he planned the action as a pretext for his disastrous martial law declaration in 2024. The drone flights two months before Yoon suspended civilian rule had sparked anger in Pyongyang, which accused the South of dropping propaganda leaflets as well. Judges said Yoon intended to provoke Pyongyang “into carrying out armed or equivalent acts against South Korea’s military of people”, according to a summary of their ruling seen by AFP. Yoon planned to “heighten inter-Korean military tensions and manufacture a national crisis”, so his martial law could have been justified, they added. The former president was given 30 years in jail over the drone incursion, a spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court told AFP on Friday (June 12, 2026). Yoon is in detention while he appeals a life sentence for leading an insurrection with his martial law declaration. He insists that he declared martial law “solely for the sake of the nation”. His defence has also denied the charge over the drones, arguing that the operation was in response to North Korea sending balloons carrying trash across the border that year. On Friday (June 12, 2026), the court’s judges said the 2024 drone operation “entailed the use of South Korea’s military capabilities for private purposes”. The judges added that powers vested in the president, including supreme command of the armed forces and the authority to declare martial law, must be exercised to protect the nation’s survival and security. But Yoon approved the military drone operation, “believing he could arbitrarily use such powers for his own political gain,” the judges said. Yoon’s late-night national televised address in December 2024 that suspended civilian rule plunged South Korea into an unprecedented political crisis. Martial law lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. However, it triggered protests, sent the stock market plunging and caught key allies like the United States off guard. Yoon is facing multiple legal cases, and Lee Jae Myung was elected President after months of political chaos in the country. Drone flights remain a flashpoint in tensions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war. In an incident unrelated to Yoon’s drone case, South Korean investigators found that government officials had sent drones into the nuclear-armed North in January. President Lee expressed regret earlier this year over the incident. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister called Mr. Lee’s statement “wise behaviour”, but hopes for a rapprochement faded after the diplomatically isolated nation returned to calling the South its “most hostile” enemy. Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

South Korea's ex-president Yoon gets 30 years over North Korea drone incident

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South Korea's ex-president Yoon gets 30 years over North Korea drone incident

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