On February 19, 2026, the Seoul Central District Court convicted former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol of orchestrating an insurrection and handed down a life imprisonment sentence, falling short of capital punishment that prosecutors had requested.
Judge Ji Gwi-yeon, who presided over the case, determined that Yoon’s dispatch of military forces to the National Assembly and his efforts to detain political adversaries — including current President Lee Jae Myung — amounted to seditious acts against the nation’s constitutional framework. The judgment was transmitted live throughout the country, attracting both Yoon’s backers and detractors who assembled in substantial numbers outside the court facility.
The judgment originated from Yoon’s imposition of martial law on December 3, 2024, marking South Korea’s first such action in over 40 years. During a late-evening broadcast, Yoon charged the opposition Democratic Party with participating in “anti-state activities” and collaborating with “North Korean communists,” deploying military personnel into downtown Seoul to encircle the National Assembly and penetrate election facilities. The proclamation endured merely six hours before being nullified. During that evening, 190 lawmakers pushed through military blockades to approve an emergency resolution dismissing the order, with some legislators from Yoon’s own political party participating.
Parliament removed Yoon through impeachment on December 14, 2024, and the Constitutional Court voted without dissent to strip him of office on April 4, 2025, determining that the martial law proclamation breached the constitution and compromised democratic governance.
Yoon became South Korea’s first incumbent president to be placed in detention in January 2025. He experienced temporary freedom that March following a court’s cancellation of his detention directive, but was apprehended once more in July 2025 and stayed incarcerated throughout his legal proceedings.
Prosecutors had requested capital punishment, contending that Yoon devoted over a year — commencing in October 2023 — to formulating the martial law strategy, positioning crucial military leaders in critical roles as preparation. They highlighted his total absence of contrition as a significant aggravating element, observing that he never presented a sincere apology and persisted in accusing the opposition during legal proceedings.
In his concluding court testimony, Yoon categorically rejected all accusations, contending that imposing martial law was a legitimate use of executive power and that the opposition had incapacitated his administration through obstruction and continuous impeachment initiatives.
South Korea has upheld an unofficial suspension on executions since 1997, and the court eventually imposed a life term instead of the death penalty.
Found guilty together with Yoon, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was given 30 years imprisonment for his pivotal involvement in organizing the proclamation and deploying troops. Four additional former military and law enforcement officials were handed sentences spanning from three to 18 years. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo had previously been sentenced to 23 years incarceration in a distinct ruling, becoming the first Yoon administration official found guilty of insurrection-related charges.
The insurrection conviction was not Yoon’s initial guilty verdict. On January 16, 2026, a Seoul court imposed a five-year imprisonment term in the initial of eight criminal proceedings, convicting him of resisting efforts to arrest him, falsifying the martial law declaration, and circumventing a legally required complete Cabinet session before releasing the decree. Yoon’s legal representatives indicated they would challenge that decision. He continues to face six more criminal proceedings, including one concerning allegations that he commanded drone operations into North Korean territory to intentionally incite a conflict that would warrant martial law — an accusation he refutes.
Yoon’s wife, former First Lady Kim Keon Hee, received a sentence on January 28, 2026, of 20 months imprisonment following her conviction for receiving expensive bribes — including Chanel bags and a diamond pendant — from Unification Church representatives in return for political influence. She was cleared of the more grave accusations of stock price manipulation and violations of the Political Funds Act owing to inadequate evidence, although prosecutors declared intentions to challenge those dismissals. Prosecutors had initially requested a 15-year term.
Following Yoon’s ouster, Lee Jae Myung secured a special presidential election in June 2025 and took office. Lee, the previous Democratic Party chairman who led Yoon’s impeachment campaign, designated three independent prosecutors to examine allegations concerning Yoon, his spouse, and their affiliates. These examinations have resulted in accusations against over 120 political and military individuals.
In a concise announcement following the February 19 judgment, President Lee’s administration stated it anticipated the courts to arrive at determinations based on law, principles, and public expectations. Yoon maintains the option to challenge his life imprisonment sentence, and his outstanding trials proceed.
