Court imposes 7-year prison sentence on former world leader for resisting arrest, other charges

(SeaPRwire) –   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — On Wednesday, a South Korean appeals court handed down a seven-year prison sentence to deposed President Yoon Suk Yeol. The charges include resisting arrest and skirting a valid Cabinet meeting prior to his short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024.

This conviction—for obstructing justice and other offenses—adds to the life sentence he already received for rebellion charges linked to his perplexing authoritarian drive, which sparked the gravest crisis for the nation’s democracy in decades.

Seoul High Court Judge Yoon Sung-sik stated that the conservative ex-president evaded a legally required full Cabinet meeting before announcing martial law, forged documents to hide this oversight, and deployed security personnel “like a private army” to push back against law enforcement attempts to arrest him in the weeks following his impeachment. The former president stood quietly as the verdict was delivered and made no comment.

Yoo Jeong-hwa, a member of Yoon’s legal team, described the verdict as “extremely disappointing” and noted that the lawyers plan to appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon has also filed an appeal against his life sentence.

In January, a lower court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison but partially exonerated him of abuse-of-power charges tied to the Cabinet meeting ahead of the martial law declaration, ruling he was not responsible for the absence of two invited members.

The Seoul High Court overturned that acquittal, convicting him on all counts and determining he violated the rights of those two members plus seven others who were not notified—by convening only a select group to mimic a formal meeting.

Even though brief, Yoon’s Dec. 3, 2024, martial law decree plunged the country into a severe political crisis, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy while rattling financial markets. The turmoil eased only after his liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, won an early presidential election in June.

Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, following impeachment by the liberal-led legislature, and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.

After his suspension, Yoon refused to comply with a Seoul court’s warrant to detain him for questioning, setting off a standoff where dozens of investigators arrived at the presidential residence in early January 2025 but were blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades. He was detained later that month, released by another court in March, and then re-arrested in July.

He remained in custody afterward as a series of ongoing criminal trials began.

Wednesday’s ruling came a day after the same court increased Yoon’s wife Kim Keon Hee’s sentence to four years. Her charges include accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church—which sought political favors from Yoon’s government—and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.

Prosecutors in a separate trial last week also requested a 30-year prison term for Yoon over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang, as he sought to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home.