SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in jail for his temporary imposition of martial regulation in a dramatic end result to the nation’s largest political disaster in a long time.
Yoon was ousted from workplace after a baffling try to beat an opposition-controlled legislature by declaring martial regulation and sending troops to encompass the Nationwide Meeting on Dec. 3, 2024.
Choose Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Court docket stated he discovered Yoon responsible of revolt for mobilizing army and police forces in an unlawful try to seize the liberal-led Meeting, arrest politicians and set up unchecked energy for a “appreciable” time.
Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photograph through AP, File
Martial Legislation Disaster Recalled Dictatorial Previous
Yoon’s martial regulation imposition, the primary of its sort in additional than 4 a long time, harkened again to South Korea’s past military-backed governments when authorities often proclaimed emergency decrees that allowed them to station troopers, tanks and armored autos on streets or at public locations akin to faculties to forestall anti-government demonstrations.
As lawmakers rushed to the Nationwide Meeting, Yoon’s martial regulation command issued a proclamation declaring sweeping powers, together with suspending political actions, controlling the media and publications, and permitting arrests with out warrants.
The decree lasted about six hours earlier than being lifted after a quorum of lawmakers managed to interrupt by a army blockade and unanimously voted to lift the measure.
Yoon was suspended from workplace on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by lawmakers and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court docket in April 2025. He has been below arrest since final July whereas going through a number of prison trials, with the revolt cost carrying essentially the most extreme punishment.
Yoon’s Attorneys Reject Conviction
Yoon Kap-keun, one of many former president’s legal professionals, accused Jee of issuing a “predetermined verdict” based mostly solely on prosecutors’ arguments and stated the “rule of regulation” had collapsed. He stated he would focus on whether or not to enchantment together with his consumer and the remainder of the authorized workforce.
Yoon Suk Yeol advised the court docket the martial regulation decree was solely meant to lift public consciousness of how the liberals had been paralyzing state affairs, and that he was ready to respect lawmakers in the event that they voted in opposition to the measure.
Prosecutors stated it was clear Yoon was making an attempt to disable the legislature and forestall lawmakers from lifting the measure by voting, actions that exceeded his constitutional authority even below martial regulation.
In saying Yoon and Kim’s verdicts, Jee stated the choice to ship troops to the Nationwide Meeting was key to his willpower that the imposition of martial regulation amounted to revolt.
“This court docket finds that the aim of (Yoon’s) actions was to ship troops to the Nationwide Meeting, block the Meeting constructing and arrest key figures, together with the Nationwide Meeting speaker and the leaders of each the ruling and opposition events, so as to stop lawmakers from gathering to deliberate or vote,” Jee stated. “It’s sufficiently established that he meant to hinder or paralyze the Meeting’s actions in order that it might be unable to correctly carry out its features for a substantial time period.”
Protesters Rally Outdoors Court docket
As Yoon arrived in court docket, a whole lot of cops watched intently as Yoon supporters rallied outdoors a judicial complicated, their cries rising because the jail bus transporting him drove previous. Yoon’s critics gathered close by, demanding the dying penalty.
There have been no rapid experiences of main clashes following the decision.
A particular prosecutor had demanded the dying penalty for Yoon Suk Yeol, saying his actions posed a risk to the nation’s democracy and deserved essentially the most critical punishment accessible, however most analysts anticipated a life sentence because the poorly-planned energy seize didn’t end in casualties.
South Korea has not executed a dying row inmate since 1997, in what’s extensively seen as a de facto moratorium on capital punishment amid requires its abolition.
Different Officers Sentenced For Implementing Martial Legislation
The court docket additionally convicted and sentenced a number of former army and police officers concerned in implementing Yoon’s martial regulation decree, together with ex-Protection Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who acquired a 30-year jail time period for his central function in planning the measure and mobilizing the army.
Final month, Yoon was sentenced to 5 years in jail for resisting arrest, fabricating the martial regulation proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cupboard assembly earlier than declaring the measure.
The Seoul Central Court docket has additionally convicted two members of Yoon’s Cabinet in different instances. That features Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who acquired a 23-year jail sentence for making an attempt to legitimize the decree by forcing it by a Cupboard Council assembly, falsifying data and mendacity below oath. Han has appealed the decision.
Yoon is the primary former South Korean president to obtain a life sentence since former army dictator Chun Doo-hwan, who was sentenced to dying in 1996 for his 1979 coup, a bloody 1980 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju that left greater than 200 individuals useless or lacking, and corruption.
The Supreme Court docket later decreased his sentence to life imprisonment, and he was launched in late 1997 below a particular presidential pardon. He died in 2021.
