A South Korean court on Friday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison on charges linked to his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024, marking the first verdict in what will be a series of eight criminal trials facing the disgraced leader.
The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of obstructing law enforcement by mobilizing the presidential security service to prevent authorities from executing an arrest warrant against him. The court also ruled that he fabricated official documents and failed to follow the legally required process for declaring martial law, which must be deliberated at a formal cabinet meeting. The judgment comes as Yoon, 65, faces potentially far more severe consequences in a separate ongoing trial where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for masterminding an insurrection.
In delivering the verdict during televised proceedings, presiding Judge Baek Dae Hyun said Yoon abused his authority as president by using state security officials to block lawful warrants, effectively placing public servants loyal to the Republic of Korea at his personal disposal for his own protection and benefit. The judge emphasized that imposing a grave punishment was necessary because Yoon has shown no remorse and has only repeated excuses that are hard to comprehend. Restoring legal systems damaged by his actions, the judge added, remains essential.
Yoon listened quietly as the sentence was read in a courtroom filled with supporters, showing no visible reaction. His legal team immediately announced plans to appeal, describing the ruling as politicized and lacking legal grounds for what they called an excessive sentence. Prosecutors declined to comment on whether they would challenge the five year term, which was half of the 10 years special counsel Cho Eun Suk’s team had requested last month.
The former president is being held at the Seoul Detention Center on the outskirts of the capital. He was eventually arrested after a dramatic second operation in January 2025 that involved more than 3,000 police officers, making him the first sitting president in South Korean history to be taken into custody. Yoon initially barricaded himself inside his residential compound and ordered security forces to resist investigators attempting to detain him under a court issued warrant.
In separate proceedings, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Yoon on rebellion charges, accusing him of attempting to impose military rule without legal justification and suspend parliament. That case, considered the most significant of the eight trials, is scheduled for a verdict on February 19. While South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997 and local courts rarely issue death sentences in recent years, experts predict Yoon is more likely to receive a life imprisonment sentence if convicted.
Yoon has argued that declaring martial law fell within his constitutional powers and that the move was intended to draw public attention to what he described as obstruction of governance by opposition parties. He maintains he never intended to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was meant only to inform people about what he considered the danger of the opposition controlled parliament.
Outside the courthouse on Friday, a small group of supporters gathered under heavy police security, holding placards claiming Yoon was the victim of a political witch hunt and insisting he remained the legitimate president. However, investigators have viewed his decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
The short lived martial law declaration lasted approximately six hours but sent shockwaves through South Korea’s political system. Following the decree on December 3, 2024, parliament swiftly voted to overturn it, with support from some members of Yoon’s own conservative party. He was later impeached and formally removed from office in April 2025 by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that he had violated his constitutional duties.
Yoon’s martial law attempt brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the National Assembly and enter election offices, evoking traumatic memories of dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s when military backed rulers used martial law and other emergency decrees to station soldiers and armored vehicles in public places to suppress pro democracy protests. Thousands of people rushed to the National Assembly on the night of the declaration to object to the decree and demand his resignation in dramatic scenes.
The former star prosecutor, who won South Korea’s presidency in 2022 just a year after entering politics, now joins a long list of former South Korean leaders who have been convicted and imprisoned. His case echoes that of former general Chun Doo Hwan, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in a brutal crackdown on mass protests in Gwangju in 1980, although Chun was later pardoned after serving two years. The pattern underscores South Korea’s history of holding even its highest officials accountable under the law, though it also highlights recurring challenges posed by leaders attempting to override legal frameworks.
Prison sentences in the multiple smaller trials Yoon faces could matter significantly if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial, which remains the centerpiece of the legal proceedings against him. Dozens of high level officials and military commanders from the Yoon administration have been arrested, indicted or investigated over their roles in the martial law imposition and other allegations. In August 2025, Yoon’s wife was arrested and indicted for bribery and other charges.
The martial law debacle plunged South Korea into political turmoil, halted the country’s high level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets. While the bid to impose emergency rule lasted only about six hours, it has had lasting consequences for Asia’s fourth largest economy, a key United States security ally and a nation long considered one of the world’s most resilient democracies.
