Jailed South Korea ex-president gets 30 more years for sending drones into North

Jailed South Korea ex-president gets 30 more years for sending drones into North2 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleYvette TanandJake Kwon,Seoul CorrespondentGetty ImagesProsecutors argued that Yoon (pictured) had ordered the operation in Oct 2024 as a way to provoke PyongyangA South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in jail for sending drones into North Korea. Prosecutors argued that Yoon ordered the operation in October 2024 to provoke Pyongyang and create a pretext for his failed martial law bid later that year. When Yoon declared martial law on 3 December, he had claimed he was protecting the country from "anti-state" forces that sympathised with North Korea. But it soon became clear he was driven by domestic troubles and he rolled back the order in the face of mass protests. Yoon was impeached and is now serving time in prison after he was sentenced to life for insurrection over his botched martial law attempt.On Friday, the Seoul District Court found Yoon, as well as his former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, former head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung and former head of Drone Operations Commands Kim Yong-dae guilty of treason and abuse of power.Kim was sentenced to 30 years in jail, while Yeo received 15 years and Kim Yong-dae received three years in prison with a five-year suspended sentence. "The defendants used the guise of a military operation to induce provocations from North Korea with the aim of creating a state of emergency," the court said. It added that all three officials had "provoked North Korea", thus "increasing the risk of a military conflict", but concluded that Yoon bore the "greatest responsibility" in this event.Yoon's lawyers had argued that his actions were a "legitimate" response to North Korea's "provocations with rubbish balloons". This was a reference to North Korea dropping hundreds of...