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Korea's Ex-President Yoon sentenced to life for botched martial law declaration

Published: 19 Feb. 2026, 16:02 Updated: 19 Feb. 2026, 16:06

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

President Yoon Suk Yeol announces a state of emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Former Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life for declaring martial law, a local court ruled Thursday, with the bench concluding that the act constituted insurrection.

The verdict came a year and two months after Yoon declared martial law on the night of Dec. 3, 2024.

Prosecutors had previously sought the death sentence for Yoon during the final hearing held on Jan. 13 for leading an insurrection.

Yoon, who was indicted on Jan. 26, 2025, had maintained that he exercised his rights as president by imposing martial law.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3 declaration of emergency martial law constituted the crime of leading an insurrection.

“The defendant had the intent to prevent the National Assembly from convening, deliberating or voting by deploying troops to blockade the Assembly building and arrest the speaker and the ruling party leader,” Judge Ji Gwi-yeon said.

“It is sufficient to conclude that there was intent to obstruct or paralyze the Assembly’s functions for a considerable period.”

Yoon was accused of conspiring with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and others to declare an unconstitutional and illegal state of martial law, mobilize military and police forces to seize the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, and attempt to arrest key political figures in what prosecutors described as an act of insurrection aimed at undermining the constitutional order.

In closing arguments last month, the special counsel team, led by Cho Eun-seok, characterized the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency declaration as “a grave act of constitutional destruction by anti-state forces” and sought the maximum penalty of death.

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]