appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Park Chan-kyong

Prosecutors on Friday demanded a 10-year prison sentence for former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol in the first of four trials linked to his failed attempt to impose martial law, as a potential ruling against Yoon next month could keep him behind bars even before his most serious case is concluded.
This first case focuses on Yoon’s actions before and after the martial law decree was issued on December 3 last year, including obstructing his arrest, bypassing Cabinet procedures and forging official documents to create the appearance of a lawful proclamation.
Wearing a dark blue suit without a tie, Yoon appeared tense in court, at one point letting out a bitter laugh of disbelief as special prosecutors laid out their argument for severe punishment ahead of the scheduled verdict on January 16.
He faces a more serious, separate charge of masterminding the failed imposition of martial law – a crime punishable by either death or life imprisonment, according to legal analysts.
“In light of the sentencing request and usual court practices, Yoon is likely to receive at least five years in prison in this trial alone, which would effectively eliminate the possibility of his release when the initial six-month custody period expires on January 18,” Yi Zoon-il, a professor at Korea University Law School, told This Week in Asia.
Yoon and his defence team have urged the 35th criminal court panel, led by senior judge Baek Dae-hyun, to postpone a verdict on the current case until after the conclusion of deliberations by another panel in February in the main insurrection case, arguing that an earlier ruling could prejudice the more serious trial.

Baek rejected the request, announcing that he would deliver a verdict on January 16, two days before Yoon’s six-month detention period expires, dashing hopes that the former president might be released for a second time.
Legal experts said the sequencing of verdicts could prove decisive as a guilty verdict in this first trial would significantly narrow Yoon’s scope for legal manoeuvring ahead of the main insurrection ruling.
In their sentencing application against Yoon, the special prosecutors said: “The defendant’s actions seriously damaged the legal order of the Republic of Korea and deeply wounded citizens who trusted him enough to elect him president. The defendant never expressed remorse or apologised to the public during the investigation and trial. Instead, he repeatedly insisted on [what he considered] the legitimacy of the martial law declaration and disputed the legality of his arrest.”
In his final statement before next month’s scheduled verdict, Yoon said the charges against him were outrageous.
“The indictment documents against me read like a piece of comedy,” Yoon said, adding that he had spent many years as a prosecutor before entering politics and contesting the 2022 presidential election that he won.
He blamed the imposition of martial law on the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which he said had obstructed the functioning of his administration from the very beginning of his term.
In January, Yoon fiercely resisted arrest and barricaded himself inside the fortified presidential office while being shielded by rifle-carrying security service agents. Although he was released in March on technical grounds, he was rearrested in July.
Since then, Yoon has remained defiant, maintaining what prosecutors describe as baseless claims of innocence and asserting that the martial law decree was intended to “awaken” the public to threats posed by vaguely defined pro-North Korea, anti-state forces.

Special prosecutors characterised Yoon’s conduct as “grave offences in which the defendant privatised state institutions to conceal and justify his own wrongdoing”.
They said: “Strict accountability is required to restore the constitutional order and rule of law damaged by the defendant and to prevent abuses of power by the nation’s highest authority from recurring in Korean history.”
Prosecutors have requested five years in prison for Yoon on charges of obstructing his arrest and a combined three years for infringing on Cabinet members’ constitutional rights to deliberate and vote on the martial law proclamation.
They said Yoon rushed to declare martial law without convening a full Cabinet meeting and later spread false information to foreign media claiming that troops did not block lawmakers from gathering at the National Assembly to overturn the decree.
An additional two-year sentence was sought for forging official documents related to the martial law proclamation.
This case marks the first of four insurrection-related trials involving Yoon to reach the sentencing stage, and observers have said it may serve as a gauge of the outcome of the remaining cases.

Arguments from the prosecution and the defence in the main insurrection trial – the central case concerning the martial law imposition – will conclude on January 9, with a verdict expected in February.
Yoon is also standing trial on allegations that he ordered drones to be sent to Pyongyang to provoke a security crisis and fabricate justification for declaring martial law.
Some of the drones dispatched in October and November last year reportedly crashed in North Korea with their flight data intact. The alleged transfer of classified military information to the enemy is an illegal act amounting to aiding adversaries under South Korean law.
Prosecutors further accused Yoon of selectively convening Cabinet members loyal to him to create the appearance of a legitimate Cabinet meeting.
He also faces charges of fabricating a proclamation to falsely suggest that the decree had been properly countersigned by then-prime minister Han Duck-soo and former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun.
The document was later shredded and discarded, violating laws requiring the preservation of presidential records and official documents.
Beyond the courtroom, political turmoil stemming from the failed martial law bid continues to roil South Korea.

The ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which returned to power following Yoon’s impeachment in April, said on Friday that it would push for a second round of special counsel investigations combining three inquiries: Yoon’s martial law attempt, scandals involving his wife Kim Keon-hee, and the death of a young marine – an incident the Yoon administration is accused of attempting to cover up.
DPK leader Jung Chung-rae has pledged that the bill would be the first to be introduced by the party next year.


Bessent and He meet again to tackle  ‘some unfinished business’ as Xi summit nears

Korean dating show featuring AI and human contestants sparks fascination in China

AI trade outlook brightens on falling oil and Meta’s Muse agent ahead of Xi-Trump meeting

Trump praises Takaichi for doing ‘tremendous job’ ahead of Xi’s visit to US

South Korea

South Korea’s ex-president Yoon faces 10-year jail term over first of 4 failed coup trials

South Korea’s then impeached president Yoon Suk-Yeol attends a hearing at the Constitutional Court in Seoul in  February. Photo: AP

Police stand guard near the South Korean Presidential Office and the Defence Ministry in Seoul early on December 4, 2024, after then South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law. Photo: AFP

Participants cheer at a rally near South Korea’s Constitutional Court as former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment is announced in Seoul on April 4. Photo: The Korea Times

A vehicle carrying jailed former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol enters the compound of a military tribunal in Seoul on December 18. Photo: EPA

Jung Chung-rae, leader of the ruling Democratic Party, attends a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday. Photo: EPA

Yoon’s ex-aides in ‘disbelief’ over South Korean martial law plan

Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul, after then South Korea president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law on December 3, 2024. Photo: AFP

Former National Security Office chief Shin Won-sik attending a Japan-US-South Korea trilateral defence ministers meeting in Tokyo last year. Photo: AP

Ex-home minister Lee Sang-min at a hearing in February of a parliamentary committee investigating impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol’s insurrection allegations related to his failed martial law attempt. Photo: EPA-EFE

A protester attending a rally marking the first anniversary of ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law, near the National Assembly in Seoul on December 6. Photo: AFP

South Korea’s top court overhauls handling of martial law trials to regain public trust

South Korea’s Constitutional Court justices attend a hearing in Seoul on Thursday to deliver a verdict on the impeachment of former police chief Cho Ji-ho over his role in former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s failed martial law bid. Photo: EPA

Protesters hold placards demanding the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae near Seoul’s National Assembly on December 6, a year after former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration. Photo: AFP

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives at a court in Seoul in July to attend a hearing on a special prosecutors’ request to review his arrest warrant in connection with cases stemming from his failed martial law bid. Photo: AP

South Korean politicians agree to Unification Church special probe in rare move

The entrance to the Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja’s residence in Gapyeong in South Korea. Photo: AFP

Kim Keon-hee, wife of former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, seen at the Seoul Central District Court in August. Photo: Xinhua

Han Hak-ja, head of the Unification Church, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in September after a hearing to review a warrant for her arrest. Photo: The Korea Times

About 30,000 Unification Church members attending an international mass wedding ceremony in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi province, South Korea in 2018. Photo: The Korea Times

Reporters stand outside the headquarters of Unification Church in Seoul last week after police raided the building. Photo: AFP

South Korea’s Kim Keon-hee feels ‘wronged in many ways’ as prosecutors seek 15-year jail term

South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon-hee arrives at the special prosecutor’s office in Seoul in August. Photo: AP


South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon-hee (centre) is taken to a courtroom at the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday. Photo: EPA/Yonhap

Kim Keon-hee with her husband Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul last year. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

Yoon’s supporters at a Seoul rally marking the first anniversary of the ex-president’s declaration of martial law on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

East Asia

During a hearing, Yoon appears tense and laughs in disbelief as special prosecutors present the charges in his first trial


During a hearing, Yoon appears tense and laughs in disbelief as special prosecutors present the charges in his first trial.


South Korea’s ex-president Yoon faces 10-year jail term over first of 4 failed coup trials

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}During a hearing, Yoon appears tense and laughs in disbelief as special prosecutors present the charges in his first trial

During a hearing, Yoon appears tense and laughs in disbelief as special prosecutors present the charges in his first trial