The Seoul High Court handed down a seven-year prison sentence to disgraced former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, finding him guilty of obstructing justice and abusing his power during the political upheaval of late 2024. This latest conviction adds significant time to the life sentence the former leader is already serving for rebellion, marking another major milestone in the legal fallout following his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.
Judge Yoon Sung-sik, presiding over the Seoul High Court, reversed a lower court’s previous acquittal regarding the former president’s manipulation of Cabinet procedures. The appellate court determined that Yoon had bypassed a legally required full Cabinet meeting to sign his martial law decree, instead opting to convene a select group of loyalists to simulate a formal process.
The court ruled that Yoon not only excluded necessary members but also falsified documents to conceal the irregularity.
Furthermore, the court condemned the former president’s conduct during the weeks following his impeachment, noting that he deployed presidential security forces as a “private army” to physically block law enforcement officers who had arrived at the presidential residence with a warrant for his arrest.
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Defense attorney Yoo Jeong-hwa expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, labeling the decision disappointing and confirming plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon, who was suspended from office in December 2024 and formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025, has remained largely silent throughout the legal proceedings.
His martial law decree, though short-lived, triggered a severe crisis that paralyzed the nation’s political system and rattled international markets until the election of his liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, in June 2025.
The latest ruling serves as part of a broader legal reckoning for the former president and his inner circle. Just one day prior, the same appellate court sentenced Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, to four years in prison. Her conviction stemmed from charges including the acceptance of luxury gifts in exchange for political favors and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
Meanwhile, Yoon faces a separate, high-stakes legal battle; prosecutors recently requested a thirty-year prison term for allegations that he deliberately stoked tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang, a maneuver that investigators allege was designed to create a national security pretext for his domestic martial law declaration.
