A South Korean court found ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of insurrection on Thursday, saying his martial law declaration in December 2024 was a deliberate plot to “paralyse” the National Assembly. “As to defendant Yoon Suk Yeol, the crime of insurrection leadership is established,” presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon told Seoul Central District Court.
“The declaration of martial law resulted in enormous social costs, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for that,” the judge said. The court sentenced the disgraced former leader to life imprisonment. Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised address in December 2024, saying drastic measures were needed to root out “anti-state forces”.
The 65-year-old hardline conservative was later impeached, arrested and charged with a litany of crimes ranging from insurrection to obstruction of justice. Prosecutors had sought the harshest penalty on the insurrection charges, urging the Seoul Central District Court to put Yoon on death row during hearings in January.
South Korea has an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment – the last prisoners were executed in 1997 – with a death sentence effectively banishing Yoon to life behind bars. Long seen as a shining light of stable democracy in Asia, Yoon’s failed bid to seize power stirred unpleasant memories of the military coups that jolted the nation between 1960 and 1980.
Yoon has been held in solitary confinement while fighting multiple criminal trials. He has consistently denied wrongdoing, arguing he acted to “safeguard freedom” and restore constitutional order against what he called an opposition-led “legislative dictatorship”. Prosecutors accused him of leading an “insurrection” driven by a “lust for power aimed at dictatorship and long-term rule”.
Earlier sentence
Under South Korean law, only two sentences are fit for insurrection: life imprisonment or death. Yoon had already been sentenced to five years in prison on lesser charges, while a host of senior officials also face hefty prison terms.
Yoon broke into late-night TV on December 3, 2024, to deliver a shock address to the nation. Pointing to vague threats of North Korean influence and dangerous “anti-state forces”, he declared the suspension of civilian government and the start of military rule.
Martial law was lifted six hours later after lawmakers raced to the assembly building to hold an emergency vote. Staffers barricaded the doors with office furniture to keep armed troops at bay. The declaration triggered flash protests, sent the stock market into panic and caught key military allies such as the United States off guard.
Yoon’s wife Kim Keon Hee was sentenced to 20 months’ jail earlier in January on unrelated charges stemming from bribes she took while first lady.
