Ex‑President Yoon Sentenced to Life for Martial‑Law Insurrection

Rival rallies erupted in anger and cheers Thursday after a court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison.

Yoon's supporters...called for his acquittal in his trial over charges of leading an insurrection through his brief imposition of martial law.

Just 500 meters away...the left-leaning Candlelight Action civic group held a rally calling for the ousted president's conviction.

Despite concerns of clashes between rally participants, the gatherings ended without any major incidents as police bolstered security.

A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison after finding him guilty of masterminding an insurrection.

The insurrection charge was linked to his December 2024 attempt to impose martial law.

Ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday remained defiant in his first reaction to a life sentence for rebellion.

Yoon maintained that his abrupt and short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024 was done “solely for the sake of the nation and our people.”

The court found Yoon guilty of orchestrating a rebellion by mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal bid to seize the liberal-led legislature.

While brief, Yoon’s martial law decree set off the country’s most severe political crisis in decades, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy.

South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk-yeol has been found guilty of masterminding an insurrection and sentenced to life in prison.

The court found that the core fact of Yoon’s martial law case was that he sent the military to the National Assembly in December 2024.

Prosecutors accuse Yoon of abusing his authority when he ordered troops to enter parliament and remove political opponents.

President Lee Jae Myung praised the public, with some academics proposing nominating the South Korean public for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The court found that Yoon’s declaration of martial law ‘constituted insurrection, carried out with the intent to disrupt the constitutional order.’ “},{

The martial law ‘greatly damaged the political neutrality of the military and police’ and left society ‘politically divided and experiencing extreme confrontation.’ “},{

Prosecutors said Yoon tried to use military force to paralyse the legislature, arrest political opponents and seize control of the election commission.

Yoon’s legal team called the verdict ‘a predetermined conclusion’ and ‘a show trial’ and accused the judiciary of ‘kneeling to incited public opinion and political power.’

As former President Yoon Suk Yeol was handed a life sentence for leading an insurrection… other key figures… were also given heavy prison terms.

The court ruled that even those who were unaware of the martial law plan in advance could be punished as accomplices if they recognized the intent…

It found that the former president and his defense minister shared the objective of ‘blocking the Assembly and arresting key political figures…’

‘A conspiracy can be established… through the recognition of an objective during participation in acts of violence and the tacit communication of understanding,’ the court said.

Seeking the death penalty is a step backward. The death penalty is an inherently cruel, inhuman and irreversible punishment.

Yoon’s imposition of martial law in December 2024 placed fundamental human rights at risk and has prompted prosecutors to seek his execution.

While accountability is essential, pursuing the death penalty undermines the very principles of rights and human dignity that the rule of law is meant to protect.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally, in all circumstances.

A Seoul court sentenced former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison for leading an insurrection during a short-lived attempt to impose martial law.

(corrects an earlier post, now deleted, that said Yoon had been sentenced to death).

A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to life in prison for leading an insurrection.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aiding in the attempted self-coup.

Breaking: A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to life in prison for leading an insurrection, and sentenced former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to 30 years in prison for aiding in the attempted self-coup.

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