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A South Korean judge has sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and in its chaotic aftermath.
It is the first in a series of verdicts for the ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule in South Korea on December 3, 2024, prompted massive protests and a showdown in parliament.
Now ousted from power, he faces multiple trials for actions taken during that debacle and in the turmoil that followed.
On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul’s Central District Court found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice for blocking investigators from detaining him. Baek said that Yoon abused his power by turning officials of the Presidential Security Service against the state and using them as his “personal guards” serving his “own safety and private interests”. Yoon was also found guilty of excluding cabinet members from a meeting on martial law planning.
“Despite having a duty, above all others, to uphold the Constitution and observe the rule of law as president, the defendant instead displayed an attitude that disregarded the Constitution,” Baek said.
But Yoon was not guilty of forging official documents because there was insufficient evidence, the judge said. Yoon has seven days to appeal, he added.
Prosecutors had called for a 10-year prison term, while Yoon had insisted no law was broken.
After the verdict was announced, his supporters outside the court fell silent for several minutes before breaking into chants of “Yoon again!”
It comes days after prosecutors in a separate case demanded Yoon be sentenced to death for his role as the “ringleader of an insurrection” in orchestrating the imposition of martial law. They argued Yoon deserved the severest possible punishment as he had shown “no remorse” for actions that threatened “constitutional order and democracy”.
If he is found guilty, it is highly unlikely the sentence will actually be carried out, as South Korea has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 1997.
The court is scheduled to rule on the insurrection charges on February 19.
Yoon also faces a separate trial on charges of aiding the enemy, over allegations he ordered drone flights over North Korea to bolster his case for declaring martial law.
