SEOUL, June 12, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - South Korea's ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday for sending military drones into North Korea, a move prosecutors argued was aimed at creating a pretext for his disastrous martial law declaration in 2024.

The drone flights, which Pyongyang said included the dropping of propaganda leaflets, triggered a spike in military tensions between the nations in October 2024.

Special prosecutors said back in April that Yoon's effort to "fabricate wartime conditions" with the drones had undermined state security.

Yoon was "given 30 years in jail" for the charges involving the drones, a spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court told AFP Friday, without giving further details.

This sentence comes after Yoon was given life in jail in February for leading an insurrection to "paralyse" South Korea's National Assembly with his martial law declaration.

Prosecutors had also argued that the operation heightened tensions with North Korea and led to the leak of classified information -- including details about force capabilities -- after the drones crashed, the Yonhap news agency reported.

They had sought a 30-year jail term for the disgraced ex-president over the deployment of military drones into North Korea.

Yoon has appealed against the insurrection conviction, insisting that he declared martial law "solely for the sake of the nation".

Yoon's legal team had denied the charge involving the drones and said there was "no prior order or subsequent approval" by him for the drone operation cited by prosecutors.

They said the operation was in response to North Korea sending balloons carrying trash across the border that year and was "a legitimate act of self-defence" unrelated to Yoon's martial law declaration.

His lawyers dismissed the prosecution's claims as a "speculative and false novel".

- Anti-state forces' -

Drone flights remain a flashpoint in tensions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret earlier this year after an investigation found government officials had sent drones into the nuclear-armed North in January.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister called Lee's statement "wise behaviour", but hopes for a rapprochement faded after the diplomatically isolated nation returned to calling the South its "most hostile" enemy.

Yoon, who is currently jailed while facing multiple trials, was sentenced to life in prison for the more serious crime of leading an insurrection over his failed attempt to impose martial law.

In December 2024, he made a shock late-night national televised address, raising the spectre of North Korean influence and "anti-state forces" to declare the suspension of civilian rule.

But martial law lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session.

Yoon's declaration triggered protests, panicked the stock market and caught key allies like the United States off-guard.