President Yoon Suk-yeol appears at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, on February 20, 2025. (©Reuters).
On February 19, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to life in prison over his December 3, 2024, martial law decree, convicting him of leading an insurrection.
The ruling marks the second prison sentence handed down to Yoon in connection with the martial law episode. In January, another court sentenced him to five years for obstruction of justice, among other charges.
Yoon, a conservative who took office in 2022, declared emergency martial law on December 3, 2024, vowing to eradicate what he called "pro-North anti-state forces" and restore national normalcy.
Troops were subsequently dispatched to the National Assembly and other state institutions, including the National Election Commission facilities.
South Korea's Constitutional Court later found the declaration unconstitutional and removed Yoon from office.
Charges of Heading an Insurrection
He has since faced criminal prosecution for spearheading an insurrection through the imposition of martial law. Thursday's verdict came 443 days after the declaration.
Under the nation's Criminal Code, insurrection is defined as a riot carried out intending to subvert the constitutional order or usurping state authority or national territory. Article 87 prescribes penalties up to death or life imprisonment for those who lead such acts.
"It is difficult to deny that the defendants harbored the purpose of obstructing or paralyzing the activities of the National Assembly — by, for example, deploying troops to blockade the Assembly and arrest key political figures — thereby rendering it unable to function properly for a substantial period," the court said in its ruling.
The court added that the conduct of "deploying armed military personnel to the National Assembly, insertion by helicopter or by scaling the walls to enter the premises, physical altercations with Assembly staff inside, and large-scale deployment of vehicles to effect arrests" fell within the legal definition of riot under the criminal code.
Self-coup or Warning?
The special counsel had earlier sought the death penalty. It argued that Yoon's mobilization of martial law forces to seize the National Assembly and the National Election Commission and to detain political rivals amounted to a "self-coup to secure long-term rule."
"This was an act of rebellion aimed at neutralizing constitutional institutions and overthrowing the state system for the president's lust for power," the prosecution said at the final hearing.
Yoon rejected the charges. In his final statement, he said the martial law "was an emergency warning intended to inform the public of a national crisis caused by the opposition's unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship and to appeal for cooperation in overcoming it."
He maintained it was a high-level executive decision to resolve governmental paralysis, with neither the intent nor the execution of insurrection.
Yoon inherited an opposition-dominated parliament when he took office in May 2022. Many of his key policy initiatives and appointments were blocked by opposition parties, while he, in turn, vetoed opposition-led legislation.
The tit-for-tat standoff dragged on for months before his highly contested martial law order.
Martial Law Fallout
The court said that while declaring martial law falls within presidential authority, neither the Constitution nor martial law statutes permit infringement of the National Assembly's powers or the essential functions of other state organs.
However, the court acknowledged in sentencing that the martial law was poorly executed and that Yoon had attempted to limit violence as much as he could.
Seven other officials were also sentenced over their roles, including former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who received a 30-year sentence, and former Defense Intelligence Command chief Roh Sang-won, who was sentenced to 18 years.
Thursday's ruling follows the earlier conviction of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison for his involvement in the martial law operation.
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Author: Kenji Yoshida
