(FILES) South Koreas impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on February 13, 2025. A South Korean court will rule on February 19, 2026 on insurrection charges against ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, weighing whether he should be sentenced to death for his failed bid to impose military rule. (Photo by JEON HEON-KYUN / POOL / AFP)
South Korea’s highest court upheld ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s seven-year prison sentence on Thursday over crimes tied to his botched 2024 martial law declaration and its chaotic aftermath.
The case covered accusations that Yoon had obstructed cabinet deliberations and used forged signatures of the prime minister in the lead-up to the declaration, as well as using presidential security agents to block his own arrest after lawmakers had nullified it.
The disgraced former president is already in detention while he appeals a separate life sentence for leading an insurrection with his martial law declaration, which he insists was motivated by the public interest.
In the case brought before the Supreme Court, Yoon was accused of obstructing deliberations by convening only a select group of ministers for a meeting shortly before he declared martial law.
