Former President Yoon Suk Yeol takes his seat at Seoul Central District Court for his insurrection trial Thursday in Seoul. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection. Yonhap
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection as a result of his short-lived martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024. After his unexpected proclamation on that late evening in Seoul, Yoon sent military troops and police to the National Assembly to incapacitate the parliament and arrest legislators. Legislators and citizens climbed the walls of the National Assembly, where the lawmakers hurriedly gathered a quorum and voted to nullify the declaration.
That night itself seemed surreal, but the crisis that followed felt very real, exposing the country's deep political polarization and how the inability of top leaders to think beyond themselves and uphold their service to the people jeopardized the nation. The first ruling for Yoon, which is sure to be disputed but is still a verdict handed down by the judiciary, turns the page in a saga of political crisis no one had expected in this stage of democracy.
Judge Jee Kui-youn of Seoul Central District Court ruled that Yoon dispatching the police and military to debilitate the National Assembly for "a considerable" amount of time and arrest politicians formed the basis for handing down a life sentence. The acts were judged sufficient to meet the legal definition of an insurrection — violence and subversion of constitutional order. Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun received 30 years for conspiring with Yoon. Retired Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, who was involved in planning for martial law, was given 18 years in jail, and former National Police Agency Chief Cho Ji-ho received 12 years for his role in blockading the parliament building. A charge of insurrection under the Constitution comes with the possibility of two sentences: the death penalty or life imprisonment. The public and political reception of the verdict varied.
The court factored in the lack of an elaborate scheme on the part of Yoon and his cohorts, the lack of a former criminal record for the 65-year-old ex-president and his advanced age in handing down its sentence. Yoon's lawyer castigated the verdict as a "pro forma" decision and said they will appeal. Rep. Jung Chung-rae, chief of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), blasted the verdict as an insufficient response that goes against public sentiment. The leader of the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, broke his silence Friday, saying he found the ruling mortifying. He did not announce that he would sever ties with Yoon, nor did he apologize, claiming that it would cause division. Not only did he go against some in his party, but he may have lost a vital chance for the conservative bloc to redeem and rebuild itself.
What's indisputable is that this first ruling seemed inevitable in light of Yoon's irredeemable and still-incomprehensible actions. Yoon's stance that his martial law declaration was "a warning and an appeal," and that he only meant to tackle the crisis wrought by "anti-state forces" in the Assembly, was dismissed by the court. In making their ruling, the court has determined that even a sitting president can face insurrection charges if they violate the constitutional order.
It has been nearly a year and three months since the martial law fiasco disturbed the country. The people have witnessed polarizing political protests ,and undergone another presidential impeachment and a snap election. After refusing for most of this time to express any regret, Yoon finally apologized to the people on Friday, but also stood by his decree.In future trials, he must respect the constitutional order through his words and actions, rather than twisting the law — something he is an expert in as a former top prosecutor himself. Including the insurrection case, Yoon faces a total of eight trials.
The last time a former president received a life imprisonment was about 30 years ago, when a death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment for former President Chun Doo-hwan, resulting from charges for the violent crackdown on the 1980 Gwangju Democracy Movement. Yoon's short-lived martial law stirred up traumatic memories of aspects of Korean politics, which must be phased out through this verdict.
As the nation prepares for local elections in June, the DPK and PPP should not turn Yoon's first verdict into fodder for partisan jostling. Deeper polarization and confrontation are as dangerous as they are tempting as a political mechanism. People need better, more sincere service from both the leader of the nation and members of the liberal and conservative blocs. When leadership founders, it's the weakest who will suffer most.
Source: Korea Times News
