South Korea court gives Yoon 30 years over 2024 drone flights
What's new: Judges found the flights were meant to provoke Pyongyang and help justify Yoon's martial law move.
A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday after finding he ordered military drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to stoke tensions with North Korea and create a pretext for martial law. The Seoul Central District Court also sentenced former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun to 30 years, NPR reported. Judges said Yoon used military assets for personal political aims and sought to provoke armed action or a comparable response from the North. The drone flights came about two months before Yoon's brief Dec. 3, 2024 martial law declaration, which lawmakers overturned within about six hours. Yoon is already detained while appealing a separate life sentence tied to that rebellion case.