Former South Korean president sentenced to 30 years in prison for military plot

A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Thursday on charges related to sending military drones over Pyongyang to create a pretext for the failed declaration of martial law in December 2024, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and aiding the enemy, saying he conspired from the start in the drone raid in October 2024, according to the agency.

Yoon denied the accusations. His lawyers argued that he neither ordered nor approved the operation, which they said was unrelated to martial law and was a response to North Korea's months of trash-laden balloon launches across the border.

In April, prosecutors had asked for a 30-year prison sentence for Yoon.

The sentence adds to a string of convictions against the former conservative leader, once South Korea's top prosecutor, whose declaration of martial law plunged Asia's fourth-largest economy into its biggest political crisis in decades.

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

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

Yoon, who is already in custody, can appeal the trial court's decision handed down this Friday.

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Source: CNN