Ex-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Sentenced to Life Over Military Emergency

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor on Thursday, February 19, 2026, after a court found him guilty of leading an insurrection related to the military emergency declaration on December 3, 2024.

Yoon became the first elected president in South Korea's democratic era to receive the maximum prison sentence.

As reported by Korea Times, the court concluded that the decree met the legal definition of insurrection but declined to impose the death penalty, despite the special prosecutor's request. The court's decision came 443 days after Yoon declared the military emergency.

The court recognized Yoon as "the leader of the insurrection," based on the grounds that his declaration violated the authority of the National Assembly and constituted a form of insurrection. The court stated that Yoon's declaration, his attempt to obstruct the National Assembly, and the issuance of the military emergency decree aimed at undermining the constitutional order.

In explaining its decision, the court stated that although the elements of the crime are acknowledged, the court considered various factors in determining the sentence.

Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor, was tried for leading the insurrection related to his military emergency declaration, in a case that centered on whether the action was an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order.

Prosecutors alleged that Yoon conspired with senior officials, including former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, to impose the emergency despite lacking constitutional requirements. They argued that troops and police were deployed to prevent the National Assembly from voting to revoke the decree, and that authorities moved to detain prominent political figures and election officials.

In their closing arguments, the special prosecutors described the case as a serious violation of constitutional governance and demanded the harshest punishment. They argued that the deployment of armed personnel and efforts to shut down the legislative body met the legal threshold for insurrection.

However, Yoon's lawyers maintained that the declaration was a legitimate exercise of presidential authority intended to alert the public to a national crisis.

In his final statement, Yoon stated that the action was meant as a warning and an appeal, not an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order. Throughout the trial, Yoon maintained his innocence and called the investigation a "political conspiracy." He stated that he declared the military emergency to warn the public about what he described as an unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship by the Democratic Party, which was then the opposition.

Yoon alleged electoral fraud without providing evidence and claimed the opposition had paralyzed his administration through budget cuts and impeachment proceedings. He argued that he deployed minimal, mostly unarmed troops with no intention to suppress parliament. His legal team argued that there was no intention to disrupt the constitutional order, and there were no disturbances.

The crux of the case is whether the military emergency declaration reached the level of criminal insurrection, which requires evidence of intent to disrupt the constitutional order and the use of force sufficient to threaten public peace.

Separate rulings in related cases have considered the nature of the military emergency decree. Other panels of the same court previously concluded that the declaration could be considered an act of insurrection aimed at subduing constitutional institutions through violence.

Under South Korean criminal law, the offense of leading an insurrection carries only three possible punishments: the death penalty, life imprisonment with hard labor, or life imprisonment without hard labor. The case is seen as a legal test of the boundaries between presidential emergency powers and constitutional constraints.

A comparable precedent occurred in 1996 when former President Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death at his first trial for charges related to a rebellion stemming from the 1980 Gwangju suppression, a sentence later reduced to life imprisonment after appeal.

Military Coup

The allegations stem from events on the night of December 3, 2024, when prosecutors said Yoon attempted to use military force to disable the legislature, arrest political opponents, and seize control of the national election commission. Yoon claimed he was quashing "anti-state forces" and alleged electoral fraud without providing evidence.

Within hours of the declaration, 190 lawmakers breached military and police lines to pass an emergency resolution revoking the military emergency law.

Parliament impeached Yoon Suk Yeol within 11 days, and the constitutional court removed him from office four months later.

The Thursday verdict follows related rulings that formally established the events of December 3 as an insurrection. In January, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison in a ruling that described the attempt to impose the military emergency law as a "self-coup" by elected authorities more dangerous than traditional insurrection. The sentence far exceeded the prosecutors' demand for 15 years, demonstrating the court's willingness to impose severe punishments.

On February 12, former interior minister Lee Sang-min was jailed for seven years for his role in the insurrection, including issuing orders to cut off media electricity and water supplies. Legal experts said the rulings created a punitive environment that makes heavy sentences more likely in Yoon Suk Yeol's case.

Former President Park Geun-hye initially received a combined 32-year sentence for corruption and related offenses in 2018 before the sentence was reduced on appeal and then nullified by a presidential pardon in 2021.

In 1996, military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo each received the death penalty and 22.5 years for their roles in the 1979 coup and Gwangju massacre, although the sentences were later reduced on appeal, and both men were eventually pardoned. Every former South Korean president who has served jail time has eventually been pardoned.

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