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Court to announce verdict for former President Yoon's martial law bid on Thursday

Published: 19 Feb. 2026, 11:07 Updated: 19 Feb. 2026, 15:21

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol gives his final speech at a hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court, southern Seoul, regarding his insurrection charges for declaring martial law, on Jan. 13. [SEOUL CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT]

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to receive a verdict on Thursday afternoon over allegedly leading an insurrection by declaring martial law. After 43 trials, Yoon maintains that he exercised his rights as the president of the country by imposing martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.

The Korea JoongAng Daily will cover the sentencing live starting at 2 p.m.

Over the course of a year, after being indicted on Jan. 26, 2025, Yoon made headlines with some of the most unexpected stunts in a courtroom — being absent for months at a time, falling asleep and dismissing his lawyers to speak for himself.

Before being taken into custody, Yoon had been staying at the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, for 55 days after declaring martial law. He had refused to comply with an arrest warrant issued by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, until he was taken into custody after the Presidential Security Service lifted its blockade.

On March 7, 2025, however, the court ordered his release, saying the detention period had been miscalculated and had expired. Yoon attended his first trial on April 14 last year without detention.

On the day of the first hearing, Yoon denied the charges himself rather than leaving the response to his lawyers. He refuted the prosecution’s presentation page by page, which laid out the indictment, and rebutted it for one hour and 19 minutes.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol listens as he is sentenced to five years in prison for obstruction of official duties at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Jan. 16. [SEOUL CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT]

"It was a martial law of peaceful message to the people," he said. “I would like to ask whether there is any such thing in human history as an insurrection that lasts only a few hours.”

He used the term “nonsense” six times, claiming that “Even though everyone who could enter the National Assembly went in, the National Assembly speaker and the opposition party leader staged a show of climbing over the wall for photos.”

“I believe the commanders and unit leaders may have taken measures under emergency manuals beyond the communication between me and the minister. As they each followed their designated manuals, they may have prepared measures beyond what the minister or I had in mind,” Yoon said, arguing that the military’s actions during martial law were not entirely his responsibility.

Yoon was tried without detention for 126 days but was rearrested on July 10 last year on charges of obstructing arrest, a form of special obstruction of official duties, by the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-seok, which was launched in June last year to investigate the insurrection allegations. Yoon then failed to appear at trial 16 consecutive times over the next four months, citing health reasons.

Commuters watch news coverage at Seoul Station on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a national address. [NEWS1]

He returned to court on Oct. 30 last year, saying, “Despite health issues, I will attend the trial as much as possible.” However, he continued to deny the charges and justify declaring martial law. At the final hearing on Jan. 13, Yoon referred to himself as "a fool" and denied the charges.

“How could a fool like me carry out a coup? To stage a coup, you have to be quick-witted," Yoon said.

He also struck the desk while saying, “Have you ever seen an insurrection that stops because the National Assembly tells it to stop?” “If I had tried to dissolve the National Assembly, I would have had to subdue the entire country with armored vehicles and tanks,” and “Did I even attempt something like that?”

The court had initially planned to conclude the special counsel team’s sentencing demand on Jan. 9, four days earlier. However, lawyers for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was being tried jointly with Yoon, spent 12 hours reviewing documentary evidence, which is typically handled briefly, delaying the prosecutors' sentencing request. At the Jan. 13 hearing, Yoon’s defense team also conducted an 11-hour marathon review of documentary evidence. The special counsel team sought the death penalty, the maximum sentence allowed by law, for Yoon the same day.

The Seoul Central District Court building in southern Seoul is seen on Feb. 18, a day ahead of the sentencing for former President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law. [NEWS1

The first trial verdict will be delivered by the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 25, presided over by Judge Ji Gwi-yeon, in Courtroom 417 of the Seoul Court Complex in Seocho District, southern Seoul — the same courtroom where former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo stood in 1996, former President Park Geun-hye in 2017 and former President Lee Myung-bak in 2018.

The special counsel team has sought the death penalty. The statutory penalties for leading an insurrection are limited to death, life imprisonment or life imprisonment without labor. However, depending on the court’s judgment and mitigating factors, a fixed-term prison sentence of at least 10 years could be imposed.

Even if Yoon is acquitted, he is still expected to remain in detention because he was sentenced on Jan. 16 to five years in prison in a separate first trial on charges of special obstruction of official duties.

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 KIM SEONG-JIN, JEONG JIN-HO [[email protected]]