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A South Korean appeals court on Wednesday increased the prison term of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years for obstruction of justice, up from the five years previously handed down.
A lower court had issued the initial sentence in January after finding that Yoon used presidential security personnel to block the execution of his own arrest.
Both Yoon and prosecutors appealed the ruling. Yoon argued that the arrest warrants issued against him were based on what he described as an illegal investigation, while special prosecutors said the punishment should have been 10 years, calling his conduct extremely serious.”
“The court sentences the defendant to seven years in prison,” a judge at the Seoul High Court said.
The judge added that Yoon not only attempted to obstruct the lawful execution of arrest warrants by prosecutors but also issued what he called improper directives to presidential security officials.
“(He) also issued unlawful instructions to public officials of the presidential security service, who are national civil servants, attempting to use them as if they were private guards for his personal protection,” the judge said.
Yoon, who attended the hearing in a black suit and white shirt, showed little reaction as the verdict was read.
The appeals court also upheld his conviction for abuse of power over excluding cabinet members from a meeting linked to the imposition of martial law. It overturned a lower court acquittal on a separate abuse of power charge related to distributing his defence of the martial law declaration to foreign media, and upheld findings that he prepared falsified documents, though they were not used.
Yoon’s lawyers said they would take the case to the Supreme Court.
He is already serving a life sentence for insurrection linked to his failed attempt to impose martial law in 2024.
In a televised address at the time, he cited alleged North Korean influence and “anti-state forces” in announcing the suspension of civilian rule, but the order lasted only about six hours before lawmakers voted it down.
The move triggered nationwide protests, market panic, and comparisons to past military coups, before Yoon was impeached and removed from office.
He is also facing a separate trial on allegations of aiding the enemy, over claims he ordered drone operations into North Korea in early 2024. Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence, alleging the move was intended to provoke tensions that would justify martial law. Yoon denies the accusations.
Separately, his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, is also in prison over corruption-related charges, with her sentence recently increased on appeal after a stock manipulation conviction was reinstated.
