On February 19, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of leading an insurrection tied to his December 3, 2024 martial law declaration.
The court found that the declaration violated the National Assembly’s authority and constituted an attempt to damage the constitutional order, though it stopped short of the death penalty that prosecutors had sought.
The case centered on whether Yoon’s martial law decree amounted to insurrection under criminal law — requiring both intent to disrupt constitutional order and the use of force. Prosecutors argued that deploying troops to block the Assembly from voting to lift the decree, and moving to detain political figures and election officials, met that threshold. Yoon’s defense maintained the declaration was a lawful exercise of presidential authority meant as a public warning, not an attempt to overthrow the government.
The ruling came 443 days after the martial law declaration and draws historical comparison to the 1996 conviction of former President Chun Doo-hwan, who was initially sentenced to death for insurrection before having his sentence reduced and later receiving a presidential pardon.