SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean appeals court on Wednesday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years in prison for resisting arrest and bypassing a legitimate cabinet meeting before his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.
The conviction for obstruction of justice and other charges comes on top of a life sentence he has already received for rebellion as a result of his stunning authoritarian actions, which have created the most serious crisis for the country’s democracy in decades.
Seoul High Court Judge Yoon Sung-sik said the conservative former president bypassed a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, forged documents to cover up the abuses and deployed security officials “like a private army” to resist law enforcement efforts to arrest him in the weeks after his ouster. Former President Yoon stood silently as the verdict was handed down and made no comment.
SOUTH KOREAN COURT DECLARES EX-PRESIDENT YOON SUK YEOL GUILTY IN INVOLENCE TRIAL
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol holds up his portrait during a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Yoo Jeong-hwa, one of Yoon’s lawyers, called the verdict “very disappointing” and said the legal team would appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon has also appealed his life sentence.
A lower court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison in January but partially acquitted him of abuse of power related to the cabinet meeting before the declaration of martial law, ruling that he was not responsible for the failure of two invited members to appear.
The Seoul High Court reversed that acquittal, finding him guilty on all counts and ruling that he had violated the rights of these two and seven other Cabinet members who had not been notified by summoning only a select few to simulate a formal meeting.
SOUTH Korean prosecutor seeks death penalty for ex-president Yoon over state statement: ‘self-coup’
Deposed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing on his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on February 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
Although brief, Yoon’s martial law decree on December 3, 2024 plunged the country into a serious political crisis, paralyzing high-level politics and diplomacy and throwing financial markets into turmoil. The unrest only subsided after his liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, won early presidential elections in June.
Yoon was suspended from office on December 14, 2024, after being impeached by the Liberal-led legislature, and was formally dismissed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.
After his suspension from office, he refused to comply with a Seoul court’s order to detain him for questioning, causing a standoff in which dozens of investigators arrived at the presidential residence in early January 2025 but were blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades. He was arrested later that month, released by another court in March, and arrested again in July.
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a rally outside the Seoul High Court on April 29, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
He then remained in custody as a series of criminal trials began, which are still ongoing.
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Wednesday’s ruling came a day after the same court increased the sentence of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, to four years for, among other things, accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church, which sought political favors from Yoon’s government, and involvement in a stock price manipulation.
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Prosecutors in a separate trial last week also asked for a 30-year prison sentence for Yoon over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang while trying to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home.
