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Class action against former president, his wife over martial law withdrawn

Published: 02 Oct. 2025, 19:35

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on July 9 after his pretrial detention hearing. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

More than 12,000 people who filed a lawsuit against former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, seeking damages for psychological harm allegedly caused by the Dec. 3 martial law declaration have withdrawn the case due to what the plaintiffs' attorney called an “absurd” court order.

Attorney Kim Kyung-ho submitted a withdrawal notice to the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 20 on Wednesday, according to the legal community on Thursday. In a Facebook post on the day of the withdrawal, Kim said that the lawsuit could not proceed due to what he described as “an absurd correction order.”

A correction order is a legal procedure in which a court requests that the plaintiff rectify formal or substantive flaws in submitted documents. If corrections are not made within a set period, the case can be dismissed.

“While similar class action suits are proceeding normally elsewhere in the judiciary, only the Yoon and Kim case has been subjected to unreasonable measures,” said Kim, criticizing the court's handling of the suit. “The judiciary has degenerated into an instrument of power.”

Kim added that he plans to refile the lawsuit with a different court, even if it means incurring hundreds of thousands of won in costs.

In August, Kim filed the lawsuit, claiming that the imposition of martial law constituted a violation of fundamental rights. He also accused former first lady Kim Keon Hee of being a “de facto instigator” who pressured the president into making the declaration to resolve personal crises.

In September, the plaintiffs filed for a provisional seizure of the couple’s residence at Acrovista Apartments in Seocho District, southern Seoul.

In a separate ruling in July, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Yoon to pay 100,000 won ($71) in damages to each of 104 plaintiffs in a similar suit. Yoon has appealed the decision.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]