Seoul: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a seven-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol for obstructing justice by blocking investigators from detaining him in the wake of his failed martial law bid in 2024.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this sentence marks the top court's first ruling for Yoon, who is embroiled in eight trials related to his surprise declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024. His main trial, focused on charges of leading an insurrection, is ongoing at an appellate court after a lower court handed him a life sentence.
In addition to obstruction of justice, Thursday's trial saw Yoon facing charges of abuse of power, falsifying public documents, and other offenses. The presiding judge stated, "The lower court's judgment contained no errors, such as exceeding the bounds of the principle of free evaluation of evidence in violation of logic or the rules of experience, or misapplying the relevant legal principles."
The hearing was broadcast live, despite Yoon's objections and absence, as a final appeal ruling does not require the defendant's presence. Yoon has been in custody since July last year, accused of ordering presidential bodyguards to stop investigators from executing a detention warrant in January 2025.
Additional charges against Yoon included violating the rights of nine Cabinet members by excluding them from an advance meeting on his martial law plan, revising the martial law proclamation post-lifting to cover procedural flaws, discarding the document, issuing a misleading press statement, and restricting access to a former military commander's phone records.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, convicting Yoon of these charges while acquitting him of others. An appeals court had previously increased Yoon's sentence to seven years in April, two years more than a district court's ruling but less than the 10 years recommended by a special counsel team.
Following the Supreme Court's decision, Yoon's lawyers immediately announced plans to challenge its constitutionality.