{"id":2000102470,"date":"2026-02-19T09:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000102470"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:59:13","slug":"former-south-korean-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sentenced-to-life-over-insurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/former-south-korean-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sentenced-to-life-over-insurrection\/","title":{"rendered":"Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life over insurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Delivering the verdict on Thursday, Presiding Judge Ji Gwi-yeon said, \u201cThe declaration of martial law resulted in enormous social costs, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs to defendant Yoon Suk Yeol, the crime of insurrection leadership is established,\u201d the judge said. \u201cWe sentence Yoon to life imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling by the Seoul Central District Court concluded that Yoon led the events of December 3, 2024. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for the impeached leader, who was removed from office after declaring martial law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Yonhap News Agency, the court determined that a central element of the case was Yoon\u2019s deployment of military forces to the National Assembly of South Korea in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judges found he intended to disrupt and paralyze parliamentary operations for a significant period, though they rejected claims that he sought to establish a long-term dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the trial, Yoon, 65, denied wrongdoing, insisting he had constitutional authority to impose martial law and that the move was meant to counter obstruction by opposition parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaking at a past event before his arrest. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Korea\u2019s former president Yoon Suk Yeol has been convicted of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment following his brief imposition of martial law in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000102471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[151,101],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000102470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-30","tag-editors-choice","tag-internationl","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000102471,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","width":1024,"height":576},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/logo-123.jpg","width":1280,"height":720}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000102470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102473,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102470\/revisions\/2000102473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000102471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000102470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000102470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000102470"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000102470"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000102470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}