Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials tied to his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024, according to the Seoul court.
The punishment in the Seoul Central District Court case came after prosecutors and investigators built a criminal case around the martial law episode that triggered huge public protests and ultimately led to Yoon’s impeachment, arrest and dismissal as president.
Friday’s ruling addressed multiple counts. The court sentenced Yoon for defying efforts to detain him and for fabricating the martial law proclamation, the AP reported. The court also sentenced him for sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting, a step that deprived some Cabinet members who were not convened of the chance to deliberate on the decree, the ruling said.
In a televised ruling, Judge Baek Dae-hyun said a “heavy punishment” was necessary because Yoon “hasn’t shown remorse” and has repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses,” the report said. The judge also said restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said it would appeal the decision. It argued the ruling was “politicized” and reflected “the unilateral arguments by the independent counsel,” and the defense said the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability,” the AP report said.
One of the most significant charges in the overall set of trials alleges that Yoon’s martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion. In that rebellion case, an independent counsel has requested the death sentence, and the Seoul Central District Court is expected to decide in a ruling on Feb. 19, according to the AP.
Yoon has maintained that he did not intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, and he has said his decree was meant only to inform the public about the danger of a liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. Investigators, however, viewed the decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, bringing charges that include rebellion and abuse of power, the report said.
In comments carried by the AP, Park SungBae, a lawyer specializing in criminal law, said there was little chance the court would impose the death penalty in the rebellion trial. Park said the court would likely issue a life sentence or a term of 30 years or more, and he pointed to South Korea’s long-running de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and the fact that courts rarely hand down death sentences.
Park said the court would likely take into account that Yoon’s decree did not cause casualties and did not last long, while also noting that Yoon has not shown genuine remorse. The AP reported that South Korea has previously pardoned former presidents jailed over different crimes in the name of promoting national unity, including Chun Doo-hwan, and that it has also pardoned figures linked to the bloody 1980 crackdown on pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people.
Even if Yoon avoids the death penalty or life imprisonment in the rebellion case, he could still face additional prison terms in the other, smaller trials, the AP said. Some observers told the AP that Yoon may be keeping a defiant stance in ongoing proceedings to sustain his support base, based on the belief that he could be pardoned later.
The martial law case traces back to the night of Dec. 3, 2024, when Yoon declared martial law in a televised speech saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order,” the AP reported. After declaring martial law, Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, and enough lawmakers entered an assembly hall to vote down the decree, according to the report. No major violence occurred, but the AP said the episode plunged South Korea into its biggest political crisis in decades and rattled diplomacy and financial markets.
After Yoon was ousted, liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president in a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to investigate allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates, the AP reported.
Yoon’s other trials include charges that prosecutors say involve ordering drone flights over North Korea to inflame animosities and serve as a pretext to declare martial law, as well as accusations that he manipulated an investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and received free opinion surveys from an election broker in exchange for a political favor, the report said.