An appeals court on Thursday reduced former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's sentence from 23 years to 15 years in prison over his role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law.
The Seoul High Court handed down the sentence after finding Han guilty of playing a key role in an insurrection by aiding and abetting Yoon's declaration of martial law in December 2024.
The eight-year reduction, however, appeared largely due to differences with the lower court over whether the former prime minister neglected his duties when he failed to stop the former president from imposing the order.
Han was indicted by special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team on charges of proposing that Yoon convene a Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law in order to make it appear legitimate, attempting to collect Cabinet members' signatures on a martial law-related document and reviewing the implementation of Yoon's order to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of the administration.
He was also charged with signing a revised martial law proclamation after the decree was lifted and lying under oath during Yoon's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.
