Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Sentenced to Life Imprisonment over Martial Law Declaration

A South Korean court has declared former President Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of insurrection charges related to his martial law declaration in 2024, sentencing him to life imprisonment.

In its ruling, as reported by AFP on Thursday (19 February 2026), the Seoul Central District Court determined that Yoon’s declaration of martial law in December 2024 was a deliberate plan to “paralyse” the National Assembly, South Korea’s parliament.

“Against the defendant Yoon Suk Yeol, the crime of leading an insurrection has been proven,” said presiding judge Ji Gwi Yeon whilst reading out the court’s verdict.

Judge Ji stated that Yoon had deployed military forces to the parliamentary building in an attempt to silence his political opponents. He then handed down a life sentence.

“The court found that his objective was to paralyse parliament for a considerable period of time,” the judge said.

“The martial law declaration resulted in enormous social damage, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for this,” Judge Ji added.

“We sentence Yoon to life imprisonment,” Judge Ji declared in the ruling.

In December 2024, Yoon had abruptly declared martial law in a televised address, stating that drastic measures were necessary to eradicate what he described as “anti-state forces.”

The 65-year-old hardline conservative figure was subsequently impeached, arrested, and charged with a series of criminal offences ranging from insurrection to obstruction of justice.

South Korean prosecutors had sought the harshest penalty for the insurrection charge, urging the Seoul Central District Court to impose the death sentence during trial proceedings held in January.

However, South Korea maintains an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment — the last execution was carried out in 1997. A death sentence would effectively have meant Yoon spending the remainder of his life in prison.

Yoon had also been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on lesser charges. Meanwhile, his wife, Kim Keon Hee, was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment in early January on bribery charges unrelated to the martial law declaration.