Court to deliver verdict Thursday in Yoon’s insurrection trial

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during his insurrection trial at Seoul Central District Court, Dec. 29, 2025. Courtesy of Seoul Central District Court

A court is scheduled to deliver its verdict at 3 p.m. Thursday in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s insurrection trial stemming from his declaration of martial law, a case in which prosecutors have sought the death penalty.

The ruling comes 443 days after Yoon abruptly declared emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, a move that lasted about six hours before the National Assembly voted to overturn it. Yoon was indicted in January 2025 on charges of leading an insurrection and was removed from office in April that year.

The ousted president faces four separate criminal trials related to the martial law fiasco, but this case — centered on the insurrection charge — is widely seen as the one most directly linked to the declaration itself.

At the final hearing on Jan. 13, the special counsel urged the court to impose the harshest sentence available — death.

Prosecutors argued that the martial law imposition was a long-planned attempt to dismantle the constitutional order through the mobilization of military and police forces. Armed troops were deployed to the Assembly in an attempt to detain Yoon’s political opponents, actions which prosecutors characterized as an outright act of insurrection.

Yoon’s legal team has denied the allegations, arguing that the declaration was a symbolic measure intended to warn of what they described as a political crisis triggered by opposition-led impeachments of senior government officials and sweeping budget cuts.

Attention on Yoon’s case has intensified following recent convictions of two former aides in martial law trials.

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Jan. 21, and former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min was sentenced to seven years last week. In both rulings, courts interpreted the decree as constituting insurrection — a legal assessment that could weigh heavily on Yoon’s case.

The court is also expected to deliver verdicts Thursday for seven former military officers and senior police officials accused of participating in the martial law plan. They include former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, for whom prosecutors have sought a life sentence.