According to Yonhap News Agency's report on the 12th, South Korea's former president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison for 'causing an incident of drone intrusions over Pyongyang'.
Also charged were former Defense Minister Kim Long-sung and others. Kim Long-sung was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The court determined that Yin Xiyue and others used military provocation against North Korea to create a pretext for declaring a state of emergency. Around October 2024, they issued operational orders to the UAV combat command to launch drones towards Pyongyang.
The court ruled that the operation could not be considered a legitimate military action against North Korea in terms of deploying garbage balloons. Its existence served private purposes unrelated to national security and territorial defense. This action disrupted South Korea’s military forces, which should have been deployed immediately during wartime. Moreover, it resulted in the leakage of military secrets to North Korea, thereby harming the country’s military interests. Yoon Suk-woo and Kim Long-hyun were found to have abused their powers.
The court explained the basis for sentencing, stating that although the degree of military harm caused by this operation was not considered extremely severe, the defendant ‘under the guise of military operations, intentionally provoked North Korea and deliberately created a situation of emergency martial law.’
The court stated that Yin Xiyue and Jin Longxian failed to meet the basic expectations of the nation, which is to use military actions only for legitimate purposes such as national defense. The circumstances are not to be underestimated.
