SEOUL – On Wednesday, a South Korean appeals court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years in prison. The charges include resisting arrest and circumventing a legitimate Cabinet meeting before briefly imposing martial law in December 2024.
This sentence for obstruction of justice and additional charges adds to a life sentence Yoon previously received for rebellion. His abrupt authoritarian actions led to the most significant democratic crisis in South Korea in years.
Presiding Judge Yoon Sung-sik of the Seoul High Court declared that the former conservative president bypassed the legal requirement for a full Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law. He was also found guilty of falsifying documents to hide this oversight and deploying security officials “like a private army” to avoid arrest following his impeachment. Yoon remained silent as the verdict was announced.
In January, a lower court had sentenced him to five years, partially acquitting him of abusing his power in relation to the Cabinet meeting. The court had determined he wasn’t responsible for the absence of two Cabinet members who were invited but did not attend.
The Seoul High Court overturned these acquittals, finding him guilty on all charges. The court stated that Yoon violated the rights of the two absent members and seven others by only gathering a select few, simulating a formal meeting.
Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, plunged South Korea into a severe political crisis. The political paralysis impacted high-level diplomacy and unsettled financial markets, with stability only returning after his liberal opponent, Lee Jae Myung, secured victory in an early presidential election held in June.
Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024 after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.
Following his suspension from office, he refused to comply with a Seoul court’s warrant to detain him for questioning, setting up a standoff in which dozens of investigators arrived at the presidential residence in early January 2025 but were blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades. He was detained later that month, released by another court in March, and was then re-arrested in July.
He remained in custody after that as a series of criminal trials, which are continuing, began.
Wednesday’s ruling came a day after the same court increased to four years the sentence of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, for charges including accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church, which sought political favors from Yoon’s government, and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
Prosecutors in a separate trial last week also requested a 30-year prison term for Yoon over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang as he sought to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home.
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