Alpha News

Five-Year Sentence for Former South Korean President, Faces Seven More Trials

Published January 16, 2026, 08:37

A South Korean court today sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to five years in prison for obstructing justice and abuse of power, in the first criminal verdict in a series of trials against him for his failed attempt in late 2024 to impose martial law. Just over a year after his move against the country’s parliament, which triggered a serious political crisis leading to his impeachment, the 65-year-old conservative former leader received a sentence shorter than the prosecution’s request for ten years in prison. A former prosecutor himself, Yoon Suk-yeol faces seven more trials, in the main of which, charged with sedition, he could face the death penalty. Today, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the many secondary aspects of the case that had plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability. Yoon was accused of excluding government members from a meeting to prepare for the imposition of martial law, as well as obstructing investigators from arresting him. He had been holed up in his Seoul residence under guard for weeks, even causing a first raid by authorities to arrest him to fail. “The guilt of the accused is extremely serious,” said the court president Baek Dae-hoon announcing his verdict. Yoon Suk-yeol now has seven days to appeal. However, his problems with the judiciary are far from over. In his separate trial for sedition, the prosecution requested the death penalty on Tuesday, which remains in force in South Korea, although no execution has been carried out since 1997. The verdict is expected on February 19.