- Yoon convicted of violating Cabinet’s constitutional duty, blocking arrest, faking documents
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday on multiple charges related to his martial law declaration.
The ruling, televised live, was the first judicial decision addressing Yoon’s responsibility linked to the imposition of military rule on Dec. 3, 2024.
Judges at the Seoul Central District Court convicted Yoon on charges including infringement of ministers’ constitutional right to deliberate on the imposition of martial law, aggravated obstruction of the execution of a lawful warrant and the fabrication and destruction of official documents.
The court stressed that emergency martial law is an “extremely exceptional” measure that may only be invoked when there is no other way to overcome a national crisis.
“The fact that the Constitution specifically requires deliberation on a declaration of martial law is meant to prevent abuse of presidential power and to check unilateral decision-making. So the president must, even more than in ordinary Cabinet meetings, listen carefully to the views of all Cabinet members and act with great caution,” Judge Baek Dae-hyun said. “But Yoon, in an unprecedented manner, notified only some Cabinet members of the meeting on the proclamation of martial law, thereby directly violating the Constitution and infringing the deliberation rights of Cabinet members who were not notified.”
The court also found Yoon guilty of abusing his authority to obstruct a lawful investigation. It ruled that he had used the Presidential Security Service to hinder the execution of an arrest warrant by investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials on Jan. 3, 2025, after he was impeached through the National Assembly’s vote.
“During the investigation, he abused the immense influence he had as president to obstruct the lawful execution of the warrant, and, for his own private benefit, effectively turned the Presidential Security Service into his own private guard,” the judge said. “Yet the defendant continues to offer implausible excuses and has shown no sign of reflecting on or repenting for his wrongdoing.”
The court also ruled that Yoon tampered with the date and signatures on a key martial law document, calling it a “fake proclamation.” Judges found that a document actually created on Dec. 7, 2024, was altered to make it appear as if martial law had been lawfully proclaimed on Dec. 3, a manipulation the judges described as a clear falsehood that mocked the rule of law.
“Producing a document to create the appearance that procedural requirements were met, and then arbitrarily discarding it, amounts to giving up the duty to uphold the Constitution,” the judge said.
The court, however, acquitted Yoon of the charge that he ordered presidential officials to release to foreign media a press guidance document containing the false claim that he no intention of undermining the constitutional order. The court ruled that this allegation did not meet the threshold for criminal liability.
Yoon appeared in court wearing a white dress shirt and a navy suit jacket. As he entered the courtroom, his expression was tense. Throughout the reading of the verdict, Yoon looked visibly unsettled, frequently blinking, his gaze unfixed.
Separately, the main martial law-related case, in which Yoon is charged as the leader of an insurrection, is still pending. The court is scheduled to rule on that case on Feb. 19. At a closing hearing held Tuesday, special prosecutors asked the court to sentence him to death.
His conviction Friday could influence the outcome of his other trials.
The martial law imposed in December 2024 was nullified several hours later by the National Assembly, which passed a resolution demanding its lifting. In the weeks that followed, lawmakers voted to impeach him. In April 2025, Yoon was ultimately ousted after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment.
@Korea Times, https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20260116/ex-president-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-in-first-martial-law-linked-ruling
