South Korea’s ex-president receives life sentence for imposing martial law | CBC News

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in jail for his temporary imposition of martial law in a dramatic fruits to the nation’s greatest political disaster in a long time.

Yoon fell from workplace after an ill-advised try to beat an opposition-controlled legislature by declaring martial law and sending troops to encompass the legislature on Dec. 3, 2024.

Choose Jee Kui-youn stated he discovered Yoon responsible of riot for mobilizing army and police forces in an unlawful try and seize the liberal-led Nationwide Meeting, arrest politicians and set up unchecked energy for a “appreciable” time. Yoon is more likely to attraction the decision.

Loss of life penalty

A particular prosecutor had demanded the loss of life penalty for Yoon, saying his actions posed a menace to the nation’s democracy and deserved probably the most critical punishment accessible, however most analysts anticipate a life sentence for the reason that poorly-planned energy seize didn’t end in casualties.

South Korea has not executed a loss of life row inmate since 1997, in what’s extensively seen as a de facto moratorium on capital punishment amid calls for its abolition.

As Yoon arrived in courtroom, tons of of cops watched carefully as Yoon supporters rallied outdoors a judicial advanced, their cries rising because the jail bus transporting him drove previous. Yoon’s critics gathered close by, demanding the loss of life penalty.

The courtroom additionally convicted and sentenced a number of former army and police officers concerned in implementing Yoon’s martial law decree, together with ex-Protection Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who obtained a 30-year jail time period for his central function in planning the measure and mobilizing the army.

Yoon, a staunch conservative, has defended his martial law decree as essential to cease liberals, whom he described as “anti-state” forces, from obstructing his agenda with their legislative majority.

The decree lasted about six hours earlier than being lifted after a quorum of lawmakers managed to interrupt via a army blockade and unanimously voted to carry the measure.

Yoon was suspended from workplace on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by lawmakers and was formally eliminated by the Constitutional Courtroom in April 2025. He has been underneath arrest since final July whereas dealing with a number of legal trials, with the riot cost carrying probably the most extreme punishment.

Final month, Yoon was sentenced to 5 years in jail for resisting arrest, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cupboard assembly earlier than declaring the measure.

The Seoul Central Courtroom has additionally convicted two of Yoon’s Cupboard members in different instances. That features Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who obtained a 23-year jail sentence for making an attempt to legitimize the decree by forcing it via a Cupboard Council assembly, falsifying information and mendacity underneath oath. Han has appealed the decision.