Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for leading an insurrection by declaring martial law on December 3, 2024 due to "forces hostile to the state" while the army deployed to seal off Parliament and silence it.
Published on: 02/19/2026 - 05:47 Modified on: 02/19/2026 - 16:08
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Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was found guilty on Thursday, February 19, and sentenced to life in prison in the main trial of the martial law he declared in December 2024 in a sudden and brief coup.
“We sentence Yoon to life in prison” for leading an insurrection, said Judge Ji Gwi-yeon of the Seoul Central District Court.
The former conservative leader therefore escaped the death penalty, which had been requested by the prosecution.
On the evening of December 3, 2024, the former conservative leader, citing the threat of “forces hostile to the state,” declared martial law by surprise on television, while the army deployed to seal off Parliament and silence it.
Read alsoCrisis in South Korea: the “Trumpization” of the Yoon Suk-yeol camp
The suspension of civil rule ultimately lasted only six hours. In the dark night, some by climbing the enclosure gates, the deputies managed to sneak into the hemicycle in sufficient numbers to thwart Yoon Suk-yeol's plans.
His attempt revived the painful memory of dictatorships within a society that had become accustomed to democratic stability, shook the markets, stunned abroad and caused a deep domestic political crisis.
The country will have successively seen Yoon's suspension by the National Assembly, his arrest - the authorities' second attempt -, his dismissal in April, then the victory of his rival Lee Jae-myung in the early presidential election in June.
“Preserve freedom”
Millions of South Koreans, who mobilized massively against and for Yoon Suk-yeol for months after that night, followed the verdict.
Thousands of his supporters gathered outside the court, calling for the charges to be dropped. Exclamations rang out when a blue prison bus, believed to be transporting their leader, arrived on site.
The 65-year-old ex-president has always denied any wrongdoing, claiming to have acted to "preserve freedom" and restore constitutional order against what he described as the "legislative dictatorship" of the opposition, which dominates Parliament and blocks its projects.
Yoon, who appeared detained, had already been dismissed in April for these facts. The court, which also found former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun guilty, must immediately pronounce the sentence against Yoon Suk-yeol's co-defendants.
The latter has also already been sentenced to five years behind bars for less serious offenses linked to his coup. Former collaborators, in office at the time of his shock decision, have also been given prison sentences, or are awaiting trial.
Among them, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison (compared to 15 required) at the end of January, and the Minister of the Interior at the time, Lee Sang-min, sentenced to seven years in prison last week, for their role in this scandal.
With AFP
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