SEOUL — An appeals court in South Korea on Wednesday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years in prison for resisting arrest and for bypassing a proper Cabinet meeting before his brief declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The conviction, for obstruction of justice and related charges, is in addition to a life sentence Yoon already received on rebellion charges over the episode that triggered a major democratic crisis.
Judge Yoon Sung-sik of the Seoul High Court said the former conservative president evaded a legally required full Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, falsified documents to cover the omission, and used security forces “like a private army” to block investigators trying to detain him in the weeks after his impeachment. Yoon stood quietly as the verdict was read and did not comment.
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 his life sentence.
Earlier this year, a lower court sentenced Yoon to five years and partially acquitted him on abuse-of-power charges tied to the Cabinet meeting, finding he was not responsible for two invited members who failed to attend. The Seoul High Court reversed that acquittal, finding him guilty on all counts and concluding he violated the rights of those two members and seven others by calling only a select few to a gathering that simulated a formal meeting.
Though short-lived, the martial law decree plunged South Korea into a severe political crisis, freezing high-level diplomacy, unsettling financial markets and paralyzing domestic politics. The turmoil subsided 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. After 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, released by another court in March, and re-arrested in July, remaining in custody as multiple criminal trials proceed.
The ruling came a day after the same court increased the sentence for Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, to four years on charges including accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church—which allegedly sought political favors—and participating in a stock-price manipulation scheme. Separately, prosecutors last week sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon, alleging he ordered drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to inflame tensions with North Korea and create conditions to justify martial law.