FILE – Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, middle arrives at a courtroom to attend a listening to to assessment his arrest warrant requested by particular prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea, July 9, 2025.
Kim Hong-Ji/Pool by way of AP
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Kim Hong-Ji/Pool by way of AP
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in jail for his transient imposition of martial legislation in December 2024.
Decide Jee Kui-youn mentioned he discovered Yoon responsible of insurrection for mobilizing navy and police forces in an unlawful try and seize the liberal-led Nationwide Meeting, arrest politicians and set up unchecked energy for a “appreciable” time.
Yoon is prone to attraction the decision.
A particular prosecutor had demanded the dying penalty for Yoon, saying his actions posed a risk to the nation’s democracy and deserved probably the most critical punishment accessible, however most analysts count on a life sentence for the reason that poorly-planned energy seize didn’t lead to 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.
As Yoon arrived in courtroom, a whole lot of cops watched intently as Yoon supporters rallied exterior a judicial advanced, their cries rising because the jail bus transporting him drove previous. Yoon’s critics gathered close by, demanding the dying penalty.
The courtroom additionally convicted and sentenced a number of former navy and police officers concerned in imposing Yoon’s martial legislation 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 navy.
Yoon, a staunch conservative, has defended his martial legislation decree as essential to cease liberals, whom he described as “anti-state” forces, from obstructing his agenda with their legislative majority.
The decree lasted about six hours earlier than being lifted after a quorum of lawmakers managed to interrupt by a navy blockade and unanimously voted to carry the measure.
Yoon was suspended from workplace on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by lawmakers and was formally eliminated by the Constitutional Courtroom in April 2025. He has been beneath arrest since final July whereas dealing with a number of legal trials, with the insurrection cost carrying probably the most extreme punishment.
Final month, Yoon was sentenced to 5 years in jail for resisting arrest, fabricating the martial legislation proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cupboard assembly earlier than declaring the measure.
The Seoul Central Courtroom has additionally convicted two of Yoon’s Cupboard members in different circumstances. 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 beneath oath. Han has appealed the decision.
