Yoon Suk-Yeol Receives Life Sentence with Associates Sentenced

Ex-President Yoon Suk-Yeol and spouse Kim Keon-Hee

Former President Yoon Suk-Yeol, who was a conservative leader, received a life sentence for the Martial Law he implemented back in 2024 after a series of trials. He was found guilty of rebellion by Judge Jee Kui-Youn after he had mobilized police and military to seize the National Assembly led by liberals, establish unchecked power and arrest opposing politicians.

He was very close to receiving the death penalty for the martial law which lasted less than six hours. On Jan. 15, 2025 he was arrested in a stand-off and then again in July of that same year due to concerns that Yoon would destroy evidence. 

This comes as his wife, former First Lady Kim Keon-Hee was sentenced for corruption charges in late January. In addition, she could also be tied to the 2024 Martial Law as experts believe Former President Yoon declared Martial Law to protect her from being arrested for her crimes. 

According to the Associated Press, “In a text message, Yoon’s lawyers said they aimed to address the supposed “errors in fact-finding and misinterpretations of the law” contained in last Thursday’s ruling. The case will now be sent to a specialized panel at a Seoul High Court established under a law passed in December to handle cases involving rebellion, treason and foreign subversion.”

Furthermore, not only was the former president charged but former military and police officials involved with the Martial Law were also charged such as ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-Hyun who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having a primary role in planning out the Martial Law. 

Prosecutors also argued that the martial law was planned for an entire year with notes found in a notebook belonging to former military Commander Noh Sang-Won. But the court had found those notes inadmissible. He received an 18-year sentence. 

Another official that was charged was former Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo who was sentenced to 23 years for falsifying records under oath and attempting to legitimize martial law by forcing it through a cabinet meeting. Then two of Yoon`s cabinet members were charged for other cases. 

In addition, members of the South Korean police force were also sentenced as well. From the National Police Agency, the former Commissioner Cho Ji-Ho was sentenced to 12 years. Former police Chief Kim Bong-Sik of Seoul was sentenced to 10 years even though prosecutors wanted a 15 year sentence. But the former Head of the National Assembly Police Guards Mok Hyun-Tae received the lightest sentence of three years.

Research Prof. Stephen Haggard, who specializes in the Korea-Pacific program at the University of California San Diego said that the sentence was warranted and that ignoring his actions would be a grave mistake. 

“The declaration of martial law was both a massive political miscalculation and a stain on President Yoon, his inner circle and at least part of the PPP. Vibrant democracies need conservative parties. But those parties need to figure out how to compete, not to shut political competition down,” Haggard said. “It is a testament to the strength of democratic institutions and the public that martial law was so short lived.”

Prosecutors said that his actions were deemed a threat to the country`s democracy and demanded the death penalty but the country has not executed anyone since 1997. 

“The death penalty is an irrevocable decision and I am against it for that reason,” said Haggard. “Although the case seems open and shut, the precedent of executing people in democracies is repugnant to me.”

Now his fate is creating a debate on politics as former authoritarian leaders were sentenced to death for orchestrating violent insurrections such as the fifth President Chun Doo-Hwan and the sixth President Roh Tae-Woo who both passed away in 2021. 

In addition, another former President Park Geun-Hye was charged with bribery, blacklisting opponents and coercion in 2018 and another former President Lee Myung-Bak was sentenced to 15 years for corruption. 

Former President Yoon had apologized for the “frustration and hardship” that he had caused but kept on defending his actions for martial law claiming his actions were for the people and the nation. 

“‘Forces that seek to smear a decision made to save the nation as an ‘insurrection’ and to use it beyond political attacks as an opportunity to purge and eliminate their opponents will only grow more rampant going forward,’ Yoon said last week,” The Times reports. 

Meanwhile, former President Yoon is no stranger to scandal as in 2023, he interfered with a military investigation regarding the death of a Marine which provoked allegations that he is abusing his authority. 

Previously in 2022, he had allegations that he and his wife Kim Keon-Hee consulted shamans in regards to moving the Presidential Office from Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House) to Yongsan.

The former president`s mother, Choi Seong-Ja, once told her friend in private that Yoon should have never become president as it would ruin the nation. Yoon`s family had rejected his marriage to former First Lady Kim Keon-Hee resulting in him not inviting his mother and younger sister to his inauguration ceremony.