I saw Yoon Suk-yeol having snubbed (쌩까다) Judge Ji Kwi-Yeon while turning his head away, after he was sentenced to ‘life imprisonment.’ His attitude stood in stark contrast with the other defendants. I dubbed Yoon “a systemic pus” of Korean society. He doesn’t follow the rules of the game, ignores the rest of the game, and his play itself is of the poorest quality. Yoon is a tip of ice berg of systemic social diseases of South Korea
Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life in prison for leading insurrection in South Korea
Former South Korean president found guilty over failed martial law declaration in 2024
Raphael Rashid in Seoul
Thu 19 Feb 2026 07.07 GMT
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A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced the former president Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, finding him guilty of leading an insurrection and making him the first elected head of state in the country’s democratic era to receive the maximum custodial sentence.
Under South Korean law, the charge of leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that Yoon committed “a grave destruction of constitutional order” by mobilising troops to surround parliament and attempting to arrest political opponents during the six-hour crisis.
Yoon maintained his innocence throughout the trial, characterising the investigation as a “political conspiracy”. He said he declared martial law to alert citizens to what he described as an unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship by the then-opposition Democratic party.
Yoon alleged election fraud without providing evidence and claimed the opposition had paralysed his government through budget cuts and impeachment proceedings.
He argued that he deployed minimal, largely unarmed troops with no intention to suppress parliament. His legal team argued: “There was no intent to disrupt constitutional order, and there was no riot.”
The verdict was announced 14 months after the insurrection, which was the most serious threat to South Korea’s democracy in decades.
A woman carrying a megaphone and a picture of Yoon Suk Yeol
View image in fullscreen
Crowds gathered outside the court as they awaited the verdict. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
The charges stem from events on the night of 3 December 2024, when prosecutors said Yoon attempted to use military force to paralyse the legislature, arrest political opponents and seize control of the national election commission. Yoon claimed he was rooting out “anti-state forces” and alleged election fraud without providing evidence.
Within hours of the declaration, 190 lawmakers broke through military and police cordons to pass an emergency resolution lifting martial law. Parliament impeached Yoon within 11 days, and the constitutional court removed him from office four months later.
Thursday’s verdict follows a series of related rulings that formally established the events of 3 December constituted an insurrection.
In January, the former prime minister Han Duck-soo was given a 23-year prison sentence in a ruling that described the martial law attempt as a “self-coup” by elected power that was more dangerous than traditional uprisings. The sentence far exceeded prosecutors’ 15-year demand, indicating judicial willingness to impose severe penalties.
On 12 February, the former interior minister Lee Sang-min was jailed for seven years for his role in the insurrection, including relaying Yoon’s orders to cut power and water to media outlets.
Legal experts said the rulings created a sentencing environment that made the most severe punishment more likely in Yoon’s case.
The former president Park Geun-hye was initially sentenced to a combined 32 years in prison for corruption and related offences in 2018 before the term was reduced on appeal and later wiped out by a presidential pardon in 2021.
In 1996, military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo received death and 22 and a half-year sentences respectively for their roles in a 1979 coup and subsequent massacre in Gwangju, though those were later reduced on appeal, and both men were eventually pardoned.
Every South Korean president who has served a prison sentence has ultimately been pardoned.
Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life in prison for leading insurrection in South Korea
Former South Korean president found guilty over failed martial law declaration in 2024
Raphael Rashid in Seoul
Thu 19 Feb 2026 07.07 GMT
Share
Prefer the Guardian on Google
A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced the former president Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, finding him guilty of leading an insurrection and making him the first elected head of state in the country’s democratic era to receive the maximum custodial sentence.
Under South Korean law, the charge of leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that Yoon committed “a grave destruction of constitutional order” by mobilising troops to surround parliament and attempting to arrest political opponents during the six-hour crisis.
Yoon maintained his innocence throughout the trial, characterising the investigation as a “political conspiracy”. He said he declared martial law to alert citizens to what he described as an unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship by the then-opposition Democratic party.
Yoon alleged election fraud without providing evidence and claimed the opposition had paralysed his government through budget cuts and impeachment proceedings.
He argued that he deployed minimal, largely unarmed troops with no intention to suppress parliament. His legal team argued: “There was no intent to disrupt constitutional order, and there was no riot.”
The verdict was announced 14 months after the insurrection, which was the most serious threat to South Korea’s democracy in decades.
A woman carrying a megaphone and a picture of Yoon Suk Yeol
View image in fullscreen
Crowds gathered outside the court as they awaited the verdict. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
The charges stem from events on the night of 3 December 2024, when prosecutors said Yoon attempted to use military force to paralyse the legislature, arrest political opponents and seize control of the national election commission. Yoon claimed he was rooting out “anti-state forces” and alleged election fraud without providing evidence.
Within hours of the declaration, 190 lawmakers broke through military and police cordons to pass an emergency resolution lifting martial law. Parliament impeached Yoon within 11 days, and the constitutional court removed him from office four months later.
Thursday’s verdict follows a series of related rulings that formally established the events of 3 December constituted an insurrection.
In January, the former prime minister Han Duck-soo was given a 23-year prison sentence in a ruling that described the martial law attempt as a “self-coup” by elected power that was more dangerous than traditional uprisings. The sentence far exceeded prosecutors’ 15-year demand, indicating judicial willingness to impose severe penalties.
On 12 February, the former interior minister Lee Sang-min was jailed for seven years for his role in the insurrection, including relaying Yoon’s orders to cut power and water to media outlets.
Legal experts said the rulings created a sentencing environment that made the most severe punishment more likely in Yoon’s case.
The former president Park Geun-hye was initially sentenced to a combined 32 years in prison for corruption and related offences in 2018 before the term was reduced on appeal and later wiped out by a presidential pardon in 2021.
In 1996, military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo received death and 22 and a half-year sentences respectively for their roles in a 1979 coup and subsequent massacre in Gwangju, though those were later reduced on appeal, and both men were eventually pardoned.
Every South Korean president who has served a prison sentence has ultimately been pardoned.
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol handed life sentence for leading insurrection
By
Helen Regan
Yoonjung Seo
,Gawon Bae
Seoul, South Korea
—
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after a court found him guilty of leading an insurrection during his short-lived imposition of martial law, which plunged the country into political chaos and threatened to unravel decades of democracy.
The verdict closes a chapter of one of South Korea’s biggest political crises, a saga that has been full of dramatic twists that have tested the country’s democratic guardrails.
On December 3, 2024, Yoon, 65, declared martial law in a late-night televised speech, saying there were “anti-state forces” within opposition parties that were sympathetic to North Korea.
Armed soldiers descended on the parliament by helicopter and attempted to storm the chamber where lawmakers were gathered. Shocked and angry citizens, along with lawmakers and parliament staff, rushed to barricade the entrances and fought to block the soldiers from reaching the chamber, in chaotic scenes broadcast live on television.
Yoon’s shocking declaration revived dark memories of the country’s authoritarian past, plunged South Korea into a constitutional crisis and was widely condemned as striking at the heart of the nation’s democracy. He reversed course within six hours, after lawmakers forced their way into parliament and voted unanimously to block it.
Since the late 1980s, South Korea has transformed into a robust democracy, with regular protests, free speech, fair elections and peaceful transfers of power. The country has also since grown into a major player in the global economy and remains a crucial US ally in Asia.
But its domestic political scene remains deeply polarized and fractious, with presidents on both sides of the political divide often facing calls for impeachment, criminal investigations and prosecution.
A crowd of Yoon supporters gathered outside the the Seoul Central District Court, watching proceedings on a big screen as it was broadcast live to the nation.
Presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon said it was clear that Yoon’s intention in declaring martial law was to paralyze the National Assembly for a significant period of time, considering the words he used in the military decree and the fact he tried to arrest political opponents, including the leader of the opposition Democratic Party and his own ruling party’s leader Han Dong-hoo.
The very act of dispatching armed soldiers to the parliament building and transporting them by helicopter constituted acts of insurrection, Ji said.
Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun was also found guilty Thursday of playing a major role in the insurrection and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kim had previously taken responsibility for ordering soldiers to enact martial law.
Four other former military and police officials received sentences of between 3 and 18 years.
Song Hwa, 35, who rushed to the National Assembly on December 3 with her husband after hearing Yoon’s declaration, said the verdict was an “extremely important decision” that “will send a powerful message to the public.”
Cho Kuk, leader of the liberal-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party, said Yoon “tried to destroy South Korea’s democracy.”
“There are many places where democracy is faltering,” he added. “South Korea’s experience shows that the power to protect and recover democracy lies within the people.”
Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, had denied the insurrection charge, saying his imposition of martial law was meant to alert the public to paralysing political gridlock caused by the opposition party’s majority in the National Assembly and its impeachment of several senior officials.
“The National Assembly brought about the national crisis and there was no other way but to awaken the people,” he said in closing statements, arguing that as president he was exercising his constitutional authority.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, called the charge “a delusion and a work of fiction.” He had argued that there was no real intent to arrest lawmakers, no heavy weaponry was deployed, and there were no serious casualties.
Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, a largely symbolic move as the country hasn’t executed anyone in decades.
“The series of actions destroyed the liberal democratic constitutional order,” special counsel Park Eok-su said in closing arguments.
“The shock, fear, anxiety, wounds, and sense of loss suffered by the people are beyond description,” he added.
Prosecutors said Yoon had not shown remorse and there remained a risk that his invocation of emergency martial law could be repeated in future.
“The gravity of the crime of insurrection threatens the very existence of the community,” prosectors said.
Yoon was first detained in January 2025 after resisting attempts to arrest him in a weeks-long standoff with authorities at his home in Seoul. He was the first president in South Korean history to be arrested while in office. He was impeached 11 days after declaring martial law and removed from office four months later.
Yoon continues to face multiple charges related to his martial law declaration and for other actions during his time as president.
Last month, Yoon was sentenced to five years in prison for obstructing authorities trying to detain him, abuse of power and fabricating a document.
Yoon also faces charges of aiding an enemy state after prosecutors claimed he deployed secret drones to provoke a military conflict with North Korea as a ploy for declaring martial law.
Other key Yoon allies have already been prosecuted for their roles in the martial law decree.
Last month, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison becoming the first Yoon administration official convicted of insurrection charges. And last week, former interior minister Lee Sang-min was sentenced to seven years in prison for participating in a rebellion.
Yoon’s wife Kim Keon Hee is also in prison, serving a one-year-and-eight-month sentence for an unrelated charge of bribery.
Thursday’s verdict, however, marks the first time in 30 years that South Korea has sentenced a leader for insurrection.
In 1996, former President Chun Doo-hwan, an army major general, was convicted for seizing power in a 1979 military coup and presiding over the 1980 Gwangju massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators. He was initially sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was later pardoned.
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