{"id":46188,"date":"2026-01-17T13:22:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46188"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:23:01","slug":"south-koreas-ex-president-yoon-sentenced-to-5-years-in-first-of-8-trials-over-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/south-koreas-ex-president-yoon-sentenced-to-5-years-in-first-of-8-trials-over-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s ex-president Yoon sentenced to 5 years in first of 8 trials over martial law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Asia \/ Pacific<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Korea\u2019s former president Yoon Suk Yeol was on Friday sentenced to five years in prison in the first of eight trials related to charges over his decision to impose martial law at the end of 2024. In one of the trials, Yoon is accused of imposing the law to lead a rebellion. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Issued on:&nbsp;16\/01\/2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/author\/france-24\/\">FRANCE 24<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/8f5b890a-f26a-11f0-82fc-005056a90284\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/1e73b3ea3a03dc420fa606aa31db7e736067b293.jpg\" alt=\"South Korea's former president Yoon announced the imposition of martial law in a televised address on December 3, 2024 \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">South Korea&#8217;s former president Yoon announced the imposition of martial law in a televised address on December 3, 2024.&nbsp;\u00a9 Jung Yeon-je, AFP (File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/south-korea\/\">South Korean<\/a>&nbsp;court sentenced former President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/yoon-suk-yeol\/\">Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a>&nbsp;to five years in prison Friday on some charges related to his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/asia-pacific\/20241203-south-korean-president-yoon-declares-martial-law\">imposition of martial law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The verdict is the first against Yoon in the eight criminal trials over the decree he issued in late 2024 and other allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/asia-pacific\/20241204-yoon-s-martial-law-debacle-a-throwback-to-south-korea-s-history-of-military-rule\">Yoon\u2019s martial law debacle a throwback to South Korea\u2019s history of military rule<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most significant charge against him alleges that he led a rebellion in connection with his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/martial-law\/\">martial law<\/a>&nbsp;enforcement and it carries a potential death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/seoul\/\">Seoul<\/a>&nbsp;Central District Court in the case decided Friday sentenced him for other charges like his defiance of authorities\u2019 attempts to detain him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoon has not yet publicly responded to the ruling. But when an independent counsel earlier demanded a 10-year prison term for Yoon over those charges, Yoon\u2019s defence team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such \u201can excessive\u201d sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoon has been impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoon maintains he did not intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament which obstructed his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon\u2019s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(FRANCE 24 with AP)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asia \/ Pacific South Korea\u2019s former president Yoon Suk Yeol was on Friday sentenced to five years in prison in the first of eight trials related to charges over his decision to impose martial law at the end of 2024. In one of the trials, Yoon is accused of imposing&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/south-koreas-ex-president-yoon-sentenced-to-5-years-in-first-of-8-trials-over-martial-law\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46188"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46190,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46188\/revisions\/46190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}