North Korea accused Seoul of\u00a0flying drones\u00a0over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024.<\/p>\n
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 South Korean prosecutors Friday requested a 30-year prison term for ousted President\u00a0Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a>\u00a0over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang as he sought to create justifiable conditions for\u00a0martial law<\/a>\u00a0at home.<\/p>\n Yoon is charged with benefiting an adversary and abusing his powers, which are among a long list of indictments against the conservative former leader over his short-lived imposition of martial law in South Korea in December 2024.<\/p>\n The request came in the closing stages of a trial at the Seoul Central District Court, where a team of investigators led by special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk said that Yoon and his top defense officials were responsible for alleged drone infiltrations into North Korea, about two months before he imposed martial law, while portraying the liberals as North Korea-sympathizing, \u201canti-state\u201d forces.<\/p>\n Yoon\u2019s legal team said in a statement to reporters that he never ordered the alleged drone flights over North Korea\u2019s capital, Pyongyang, or retroactively approved such action, and said that prosecutors are failing to back their \u201cspeculation and delusion\u201d with evidence.<\/p>\n In February, the court sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of the more serious rebellion charge. That verdict was appealed both by Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought a death sentence.<\/p>\n Cho\u2019s team said in a statement Friday that Yoon tried to create a warlike situation between the Koreas while plotting an authoritarian push to remove his political opponents and \u201cmonopolize and extend his power.\u201d Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison term for Yoon\u2019s former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, a key confidant who helped plan and mobilize forces for the martial law declaration.<\/p>\n North Korea accused Seoul of\u00a0flying drones<\/a>\u00a0over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024. Kim initially made a vague denial, but Seoul\u2019s Defense Ministry later switched to saying it couldn\u2019t confirm whether or not the claims were true. Tensions with North Korea rose sharply at the time.<\/p>\n Yoon proceeded with his late night martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, delivering a televised address in which he criticized liberals over a range of issues, but largely over their impeachments of his top officials and cuts to his government\u2019s budget bill.<\/p>\n The decree lasted about\u00a0six hours<\/a>\u00a0until a quorum of lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and police Yoon had deployed to the National Assembly. They then voted\u00a0to overturn it<\/a>, forcing his Cabinet to lift the measure.<\/p>\n Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature and was\u00a0formally removed<\/a>\u00a0by the Constitutional Court in April 2025. He was arrested in July that year and has been undergoing various criminal trials since.<\/p>\n Though brief, Yoon\u2019s martial law decree threw the country into a severe political crisis, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy and rattling financial markets. The turmoil eased only after his liberal rival,\u00a0Lee Jae Myung<\/a>, won an early presidential election in June.<\/p>\n