South Korea braces itself for verdict in ex‑president Yoon’s insurrection trial

SEOUL – A South Korean court is due on Feb 19 to rule on whether former president Yoon Suk Yeol is guilty of masterminding an insurrection over his botched attempt to put the country under martial law in December 2024.

The verdict by the Seoul Central District Court is the most consequential yet for the ousted leader, whose attempt to impose emergency rule triggered a national political crisis and tested the resilience of the country’s democratic institutions.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty in January

, saying that “his unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law undermined the function of the National Assembly and the Election Commission... actually destroying the liberal democratic constitutional order”.

Under South Korean law, masterminding an insurrection carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment.

South Korea last handed down a death sentence in 2016, but has not executed anyone since 1997.

There was a strong police presence at the Seoul Central District Court, with police buses forming a security cordon around the building.

The court will also rule on charges that Yoon abused his authority by ordering troops to storm Parliament to drag his opponents out and jail them, as well as dispatching soldiers and police to block, inspect and control access to facilities such as the opposition party building.

Yoon, 65, has denied the charges. The conservative former career prosecutor argued that he had presidential authority to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government.

Held at Seoul Detention Centre

The ousted former leader, who has been detained at the Seoul Detention Centre, is likely to remain there regardless of the ruling. If found guilty, he is expected to appeal against the ruling, and if cleared, his legal woes are far from over.

Yoon, who faces eight trial proceedings, received a

five-year jail sentence in January

in a separate trial on charges including obstructing attempts by the authorities to arrest him following his martial law declaration. He has appealed against the ruling.

While Yoon’s bid to impose martial law lasted only about six hours before it was met by large street protests and voted down by Parliament, it sent shockwaves through South Korea, which is Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a key US security ally, and long considered one of the world’s most resilient democracies.

South Korea’s current President Lee Jae Myung, who came to power in a snap election last June after Yoon was ousted, in a post on social media platform X on Feb 19 commended the actions of the South Korean people to thwart the attempt to impose martial law.

“It was possible because it was the Republic of Korea”, Mr Lee said, using South Korea’s official title, adding that South Koreans would serve as an example for human history.

His post was attached to a newspaper report about how some academics had recommended that the South Korean public be put up for a Nobel Peace Prize for facing off against troops and police to oppose martial law without violence. REUTERS