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Appeals hearing begins for ex-President Yoon's obstruction of justice conviction

Published: 04 Mar. 2026, 19:39

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a hearing of his trial on insurrection charges at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 29, 2025. [YONHAP]

An appeals court on Wednesday opened the first hearing for former President Yoon Suk Yeol's conviction on obstruction of justice and other charges stemming from his failed martial law bid.

The hearing took place at the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul after Yoon and special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team both appealed a lower-court ruling that sentenced the ousted former president to five years in prison.

In January, the Seoul Central District Court convicted Yoon on multiple charges, including obstructing investigators from detaining him last year following his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

The jailed former president, who attended the hearing in a dark navy suit, denied the charges raised against him.

His lawyers claimed the punishment was too heavy and argued that the anticorruption officials who ultimately took Yoon into custody over his martial law bid did not have authority to investigate insurrection charges.

Cho's team, which had demanded a 10-year term for Yoon, argued that his sentence was too light, citing the offenses he committed.

It also disputed the lower court's not-guilty verdicts on some of the charges it raised, including Yoon's alleged orders to distribute false press statements.

The Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, is pictured on Feb. 18. [NEWS1]

The trial's proceedings are led by the appellate court's Criminal Division 1 — one of two divisions recently designated to handle cases related to charges of insurrection, treason and rebellion.

Video recordings of the trial will be released online after the court accepted the special counsel team's request to broadcast the proceedings.

The former president is standing a total of eight trials in connection with the martial law attempt, his wife's alleged corruption and the 2023 death of a Marine.

In one of them, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through his declaration of martial law.

Yonhap