South Korea sentences ex-president Yoon to 30 years over North Korea drone incident

Article excerpt

South Korea's court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday for dispatching military drones into North Korea last year, a move prosecutors say was designed to escalate inter-Korean tensions and create a pretext for declaring martial law. The sentence adds to Yoon's legal troubles: he's already appealing a life sentence imposed in February for the martial law declaration itself, which the court found constituted an insurrection. The dual convictions paint a portrait of a leader using military provocation to consolidate emergency powers.