Thursday February 19th saw a South Korean court declare former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s bid to impose martial law 2024 an insurrection, sentencing the disgraced leader to life in prison.
Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised address in December 2024, saying drastic measures were needed to root out “anti-state forces.” Although Yoon’s bid to impose military rule lasted just six hours, it triggered widespread panic in a nation seen as a beacon of democracy in Asia. Presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon declared:
The declaration of martial law resulted in enormous social costs, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for that.
Yoon’s party was vastly outmuscled in parliament, which had voted to block budget measures and impeach key figures in his administration. With support from senior military figures, Yoon dispatched troops to seize control of the assembly building and arrest critics. The judge said that Yoon “became fixated” on his belief that the opposition “could effectively neutralise the president.”
The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of leading an insurrection, designed to “paralyse” his many critics in the National Assembly. Prosecutors had sought the harshest penalty for Yoon’s insurrection charges, urging the court to sentence him to death.
