Court Sentences Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 Years for Treason

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon Suk Yeol and former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun to 30 years in prison for treason, abuse of power, and aiding an adversary. The court found that Yoon ordered covert military drone infiltrations into Pyongyang in October 2024 to provoke North Korea into an attack, thereby fabricating a national emergency to justify his December 2024 declaration of martial law.

Judges ruled the operations served private political goals rather than national security and harmed South Korea's military interests by leaking classified information and exposing drone capabilities. This treason conviction marks the first time a South Korean president has been found guilty of benefiting the enemy. The ruling also pushes back the established timeline of the martial law plot to September 2024.

Other officials received sentences including 15 years for former Defense Counterintelligence Command head Yeo In-hyung and a three-year suspended sentence for former drone operations commander Kim Yong-dae. This sentence is additional to a life term Yoon received in February 2026 for leading an insurrection and a five-year term for obstructing his own arrest.

Yoon's legal team has appealed the ruling, arguing the drone flights were a legitimate response to North Korean trash-carrying balloons. Yoon was previously removed from office following an impeachment upheld by the Constitutional Court, leading to the election of President Lee Jae Myung.