583 days after emergency martial law, Yoon receives first Supreme Court ruling — 7 years confirmed for obstruction

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol received his first final guilty verdict Thursday, 583 days after he declared emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. It marks the first Supreme Court ruling among the eight separate trials he faces.

The Supreme Court's Third Division, presided over by Justice Lee Suk-yeon, held a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon in Courtroom No. 1 and upheld the lower court's sentence of seven years in prison on charges including obstruction of special public duties and abuse of authority.

The court dismissed appeals from both Yoon's defense team and the insurrection special prosecutor's office, led by Special Prosecutor Jo Eun-seok. It said the lower court's findings did not violate the rules of logic or experience, exceed the bounds of free evaluation of evidence, or misapply the law on the elements of the crimes.

Yoon had been charged with mobilizing the Presidential Security Service in January last year to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from executing an arrest warrant against him — an obstruction that occurred during the investigation into the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration.

He also faced charges of convening only some Cabinet members before declaring emergency martial law, thereby preventing the remaining ministers from exercising their constitutional right to deliberate on the measure. Additional charges included fabricating and then destroying the martial law proclamation after it was lifted, deleting encrypted phone records belonging to military commanders who participated in the martial law — including former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyeong — and drafting and disseminating false information about the martial law to foreign media outlets.

The first-instance court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison in January. The appellate court, however, reversed several acquittals from the first trial and increased the sentence to seven years in April.

The appellate court found that the deliberation rights of two Cabinet ministers — who received notice of the Cabinet meeting at a time when they could not attend — had also been violated. The first-instance court had recognized only the violation of rights of seven ministers who received no notice at all. The appellate court also found Yoon guilty of disseminating false information to foreign media, overturning the first court's acquittal on that charge. The special prosecutor's office had sought 10 years in prison at both the first and appellate trials.

Yoon's defense team expressed "regret" immediately after the ruling and signaled it would seek a constitutional court review of the verdict. In a statement, the team said it planned "to contest the unconstitutionality of this ruling through constitutional proceedings, including a petition for constitutional review of court decisions, in order to protect the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution," adding that it would "carry out all procedures faithfully and responsibly within the bounds set by law and the Constitution."

Yoon has faced a total of eight trials since the Dec. 3 emergency martial law incident. Apart from Thursday's case, seven others remain ongoing: charges of leading an insurrection, charges of general treason, charges of perjury, charges of pressuring investigators probing the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Sang-byeong, charges of helping former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop evade justice, charges related to the Myung Tae-gyun political scandal, and charges of making false statements during the 2022 presidential election.

Thursday's ruling was the Supreme Court's first decision on Yoon since the emergency martial law crisis — handed down one year and seven months, or 583 days, after Dec. 3, 2024. The Supreme Court assigned the case to its Third Division on May 20 for deliberation. The division comprises Justices Lee Heung-gu, Oh Seok-jun, Noh Gyeong-pil and Lee Suk-yeon. Justice Oh recused himself over concerns that his involvement could raise questions about the fairness of the proceedings and took no part in deliberations after the assignment, the court said. He was also absent from Thursday's sentencing. Oh was the first justice appointed under the Yoon administration, and questions about his personal ties to Yoon had surfaced during his National Assembly confirmation hearing.

The Supreme Court allowed the insurrection special prosecutor's request to film the hearing using court equipment, and the footage was broadcast live by television networks. It was the first time a ruling by a small division — rather than the full Grand Bench — had been broadcast live.