A TV screen shows a file footage of South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, December 26, 2025. LEE JIN-MAN / AP
An independent counsel on Friday, December 26, demanded a 10-year prison term for South Korea's ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol in the first of seven criminal cases related to his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law in 2024 and other allegations stemming from his time in office. The first of Yoon's trials to wrap up covers charges, including his defiance of the authorities' attempts to investigate and detain him. Yoon denies all charges and his lawyers have argued that the detainment warrant was invalid and illegal. The court is expected to render a verdict as early as next month. Yoon faces other trials on accusations ranging from corruption and favor trading to rebellion, a grave charge that is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty. The rebellion trial is also nearing an end.
Yoon's martial law enactment brought armed troops into Seoul streets and triggered South Korea's most serious political crisis in decades. Martial law lasted only a few hours, as lawmakers entered the National Assembly and voted to lift his decree. Yoon was impeached by the opposition-controlled parliament later in December 2024 before he was formally dismissed as president upon a Constitutional Court ruling in April.
