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.
The verdict was announced 14 months after the insurrection, which was the most serious threat to South Korea’s democracy in decades.
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.
