A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison for leading a failed 2024 martial law insurrection, making him the first elected leader in the country’s democratic era to receive the maximum sentence.
Under South Korean law, leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing Yoon Suk Yeol 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 denied wrongdoing, calling the investigation a “political conspiracy” and saying the ruling “only affirmed a pre-written script and is not backed by evidence.”
He claimed he declared martial law to alert citizens to what he described as an unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship by the then-opposition Democratic Party and alleged election fraud. His legal team argued troops were largely unarmed and there was no intent to disrupt constitutional order.
The conservative former career prosecutor argued Yoon had presidential authority to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties' obstruction of government.
The insurrection occurred on 3 December 2024, when Yoon attempted to paralyse the legislature, arrest political opponents, and seize control of the national election commission. Within hours, 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.
The court found Yoon guilty of abuse of authority and acts intended to subvert constitutional order, including ordering the capture of political opponents, among them current President Lee Jae Myung.
Officials linked to the attempt received sentences as follows:
Yoon also faces additional trials over "benefiting the enemy" (or aiding an enemy state) regarding North Korea, violating campaign law, perjury, election interference, and obstructing military and civil investigations.
The court dismissed procedural objections raised by his legal team but noted insufficient evidence to prove he had planned the martial law declaration a year in advance.
South Korea last handed down a death sentence in 2016, but has not executed anyone since 1997.
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