South Korea's ex-president sentenced to 30 years in prison

TT

Published 04.52

 

A supporter of Yoon Suk-Yeol holds up a portrait of the ex-president outside a courthouse. Picture from April this year. Photo: Ahn Young-Joon/AP/TT

South Korea's former president Yoon Suk-Yeol has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sending drones into North Korea.

The ex-president is believed to have used the drones to create a reason to declare martial law in the country in 2024, for which he was in turn sentenced to life in prison earlier this winter.

Prosecutors believe that the drones endangered the country's security and that they were used to "fabricate war-like conditions." The drones, which later crashed, are also believed to have given North Korea information about South Korea's military capabilities.

Yoon is considered to have intentionally tried to "paralyze" the country's legislature by declaring martial law, a court in Seoul ruled in February.