South Korea’s Supreme Court has upheld a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol over crimes tied to his failed 2024 martial law declaration and its aftermath. The court delivered the ruling on Thursday.
The case alleged that before declaring martial law in 2024, Yoon obstructed a full cabinet discussion. He also used the prime minister’s forged signature and, after parliament voted to lift martial law, used presidential security personnel to try to prevent his own arrest.
The ousted former president is currently in prison. He is serving a life sentence in a separate case for leading an insurrection through the martial law declaration, against which he has appealed. Yoon has maintained that his decision was made in the public interest.
The case before the Supreme Court alleged that, just before declaring martial law, he met with a select group of ministers, obstructing the cabinet’s normal decision-making process.
He also faced allegations of creating a fake martial law order bearing the prime minister’s forged signature and later destroying it, ordering misleading press releases sent to foreign media, and instructing a military commander to delete data from a secure military phone.
Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for Yoon. In January, a lower court convicted him on most charges and sentenced him to five years in prison.
In April, an appeals court upheld that verdict while also convicting him on the charge of issuing misleading press releases, increasing the sentence to seven years.
Both the prosecution and Yoon’s lawyers then appealed to the Supreme Court. The country’s top court’s ruling is final.
In a ruling broadcast on television, a Supreme Court justice said all appeals were dismissed because there was no legal error in the lower court’s ruling.
Yoon’s lawyers expressed “deep regret” over the ruling, alleging the Supreme Court settled the case without adequate review.
They said they would challenge the ruling on constitutional grounds and file a formal complaint on the matter.
In a late-night televised address in December 2024, Yoon declared martial law and suspended civilian rule, triggering an unprecedented political crisis in South Korea.
However, lawmakers held an emergency session and quickly voted to lift martial law, which remained in effect for only about six hours.
Yoon’s move triggered nationwide protests and a major stock market plunge. Key South Korean allies, including the United States, were also stunned by the episode.
In a separate case, a court sentenced Yoon to 30 years in prison for sending drones into North Korea with the intent of “manufacturing” a crisis ahead of the martial law declaration.
Yoon has consistently maintained that his decision to declare martial law was made “solely in the national interest.”
In 2024, he also said martial law was necessary to root out “anti-state forces” and counter what he described as threats from North Korea.
Yoon was removed from power in April 2025 over the martial law bid. In the election that followed, Lee Jae-myung of the center-left Democratic Party was elected president.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report