An appeals court in Seoul on Wednesday handed ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol a seven‑year prison term for resisting arrest and for bypassing a legally required full Cabinet meeting before his brief declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The conviction for obstruction of justice and related charges is separate from a life sentence Yoon has already received on rebellion charges connected to the same episode.
Judge Yoon Sung‑sik of the Seoul High Court said the former conservative president avoided holding the mandated full Cabinet meeting, falsified documents to conceal that omission, and deployed security forces “like a private army” to block investigators attempting to detain him in the weeks after his impeachment. Yoon remained silent as the verdict was read.
Yoon’s lawyer, Yoo Jeong‑hwa, called the ruling “very disappointing” and said the defense will appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon has also appealed the life sentence.
Earlier this year a lower court sentenced Yoon to five years and partially acquitted him on some abuse‑of‑power counts related to the Cabinet meeting, finding he was not responsible for two invited members who failed to attend. The Seoul High Court overturned that partial acquittal, finding him guilty on all counts and ruling that he violated the rights of those two members and seven others by convening only a select group in what amounted to a simulated formal meeting.
Although the martial law order was short‑lived, it triggered a severe political crisis: it froze high‑level diplomacy, unsettled financial markets and paralyzed domestic politics. The turmoil eased after liberal rival Lee Jae‑myung won an early presidential election in June.
Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, after impeachment by the liberal‑led National Assembly and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025. Following his suspension, he refused a Seoul court’s detention warrant, prompting a standoff in early January 2025 when investigators were blocked from entering the presidential residence by security forces and vehicle barricades. He was detained later that month, freed by another court in March, and re‑arrested in July; he remains in custody while multiple criminal trials continue.
The appeals court’s ruling came a day after it increased the sentence for Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon‑hee, to four years on charges that include accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church—which prosecutors say sought political favors—and participating in a stock‑price manipulation scheme. Separately, prosecutors last week asked for a 30‑year prison term for Yoon, alleging he ordered drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to heighten tensions with North Korea and create conditions to justify martial law.