Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, regarding the court sentencing former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison on a general aiding-the-enemy charge, said, "Whether sending drones to North Korea or sending dollars, it is an abuse of power and an act benefiting the enemy."
Lee said in a Facebook post on the day, "Standards must be consistent. Now President Lee, who faces allegations of sending money to the enemy, must see this through in court."
He went on, "But the ruling bloc is now creating a backdoor called 'withdrawal of indictment,'" adding, "I warn President Lee. If you evade the verdict and run away through a withdrawal of indictment, the resistance you face will be twice or three times what you now imagine."
Lee said, "Power is temporary, but responsibility follows to the end," adding, "The people to whom this lesson will sound scariest and loudest are those who now hold the greatest power."
He also said, "We have already paid the tuition to learn how power above the law can shake a country," adding, "We cannot pay the same tuition twice."
Earlier, the 36th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jeong-yeop) on the 12th sentenced the former president Yoon to 30 years in prison, the same as the sentence sought by the special counsel team for insurrection (Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk), in the general aiding-the-enemy case. Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was indicted alongside Yoon, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, five years more than the sentence sought.
The court ruled, "The drone insertion operation was intended to create a situation for declaring martial law," adding, "It cannot be viewed as a legitimate military operation such as a measure based on the right of self-defense."