(June 12): A Seoul court found former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of sending drones to Pyongyang to provoke a military confrontation with North Korea meant to create grounds for declaring martial law in 2024.
The Seoul Central District Court on Friday sentenced Yoon to 30 years in prison on charges of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, saying the operation was carried out at the risk of South Korean casualties.
“The operation involved the use of South Korean military assets for private purposes unrelated to national security or territorial defence,” the court said in a release. “As a result, our military assets were exposed to North Korea, making future operations more difficult and leading to the strengthening of North Korea’s readiness.”
Yoon’s legal team criticised the ruling, saying the operation was in response to North Korea’s campaign of sending trash-filled balloons into South Korea.
“To define military actions taken to defend the nation as criminal conduct and to regard our military’s response to North Korea’s continuing provocations as acts benefitting the enemy is to disregard the security realities facing South Korea,” it said in a statement.
In 2024, North Korea sent thousands of balloons carrying leaflets and debris in response to South Korea’s military drills with the US and other actions Pyongyang viewed as a threat to its sovereignty.
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Yoon is already serving a life sentence for leading an insurrection through his martial law declaration, a move that shocked the nation and triggered the country’s most severe political crisis in decades. The case is now before an appeals court.
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