By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday after being convicted in a case related to a drone operation involving North Korea, according to court officials.
Prosecutors had alleged that the operation, which involved sending drones into North Korean territory, was intended to create a pretext for Yoon’s controversial declaration of martial law in 2024.
A spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court told AFP that Yoon had been handed a 30-year prison sentence in the case but did not provide further details.
Special prosecutors had argued that the drone operation sought to “fabricate wartime conditions” and undermined national security. They also alleged that it heightened tensions with North Korea and led to the disclosure of classified information after some drones crashed, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The sentence comes months after Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for leading what prosecutors described as an insurrection through his martial law declaration, which they said was aimed at ‘paralysing’ the National Assembly.
Yoon has appealed against that conviction, maintaining that the decision to impose martial law was taken “solely for the sake of the nation”.
His legal team had denied the allegations surrounding the drone operation, arguing that there was no evidence Yoon had ordered or approved the mission.
The defence contended that the flights were carried out in response to North Korea’s launch of trash-filled balloons across the border and constituted a legitimate act of self-defence unrelated to the martial law declaration.
Relations between the two Koreas remain tense, with drone incursions continuing to be a recurring source of friction between the neighbouring states, which remain technically at war.