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 many years.
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.
Decide Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Courtroom mentioned he discovered Yoon responsible of rebel for mobilizing navy and police forces in an unlawful try and seize the liberal-led Meeting, arrest politicians and set up unchecked energy for a “appreciable” time.
Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photograph by way of AP, File
Martial Regulation Disaster Recalled Dictatorial Previous
Yoon’s martial regulation imposition, the primary of its variety in additional than 4 many years, harkened again to South Korea’s past military-backed governments when authorities sometimes proclaimed emergency decrees that allowed them to station troopers, tanks and armored automobiles on streets or at public locations equivalent to colleges to stop 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 via a navy 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 Courtroom in April 2025. He has been underneath arrest since final July whereas going through a number of prison trials, with the rebel cost carrying essentially the most extreme punishment.
Yoon’s Legal professionals Reject Conviction
Yoon Kap-keun, one of many former president’s attorneys, accused Jee of issuing a “predetermined verdict” based mostly solely on prosecutors’ arguments and mentioned the “rule of regulation” had collapsed. He mentioned he would focus on whether or not to attraction along with his shopper and the remainder of the authorized crew.
Yoon Suk Yeol advised the courtroom 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 mentioned it was clear Yoon was making an attempt to disable the legislature and stop lawmakers from lifting the measure via voting, actions that exceeded his constitutional authority even underneath martial regulation.
In asserting Yoon and Kim’s verdicts, Jee mentioned the choice to ship troops to the Nationwide Meeting was key to his dedication that the imposition of martial regulation amounted to rebel.
“This courtroom 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, in an effort to forestall lawmakers from gathering to deliberate or vote,” Jee mentioned. “It’s sufficiently established that he supposed to hinder or paralyze the Meeting’s actions in order that it could be unable to correctly carry out its features for a substantial time frame.”
Protesters Rally Exterior Courtroom
As Yoon arrived in courtroom, lots of 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 instant experiences of main clashes following the decision.
A particular prosecutor had demanded the dying penalty for Yoon Suk Yeol, saying his actions posed a menace to the nation’s democracy and deserved essentially the most severe punishment out there, however most analysts anticipated a life sentence for the reason that poorly-planned energy seize didn’t end in casualties.
South Korea has not executed a dying row inmate since 1997, in what’s broadly seen as a de facto moratorium on capital punishment amid requires its abolition.
Different Officers Sentenced For Implementing Martial Regulation
The courtroom additionally convicted and sentenced a number of former navy and police officers concerned in imposing Yoon’s martial regulation decree, together with ex-Protection Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who obtained a 30-year jail time period for his central function in planning the measure and mobilizing the navy.
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 Courtroom has additionally convicted two members of Yoon’s Cabinet in different instances. That features Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who obtained a 23-year jail sentence for making an attempt to legitimize the decree by forcing it via a Cupboard Council assembly, falsifying information and mendacity underneath oath. Han has appealed the decision.
Yoon is the primary former South Korean president to obtain a life sentence since former navy 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 Courtroom later diminished his sentence to life imprisonment, and he was launched in late 1997 underneath a particular presidential pardon. He died in 2021.
