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South Korea's Supreme Court upholds prison sentence for Yoon
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol for illegally imposing martial law in 2024, affirming an earlier ruling by the Seoul High Court.
- Yoon was found guilty of bypassing Cabinet deliberation, falsifying the martial law proclamation, destroying official documents, and deploying security forces to resist arrest after his impeachment.
- The martial law declaration lasted only hours before lawmakers repealed it by breaking through a security blockade at the National Assembly, forcing its withdrawal.
- Yoon remains in detention and faces other ongoing trials, including an appeal against a life sentence for rebellion; his legal team criticized the Supreme Court ruling for insufficient review.
- The ruling aligns with the Constitutional Court’s earlier decision to remove Yoon from office, citing the illegality and procedural failures of his martial law decree, which triggered a political crisis until resolved by a subsequent election.
