Former President Yoon Suk Yeol Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Obstructing Arrest, 583 Days After Martial Law Declaration

[Anchor]

Five hundred and eighty-three days after the declaration of emergency martial law, the Supreme Court has delivered its first ruling regarding former President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon, who was indicted on charges including obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant for his alleged role as the ringleader of an insurrection, has had his seven-year prison sentence upheld by the Supreme Court.

Legal affairs specialist reporter Im Chanjong has the story.

[Reporter]

The Supreme Court's ruling today (July 9) against former President Yoon Suk Yeol concerns charges that can be categorized into five areas, including the obstruction of an arrest.

These charges include obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) following the December 3 emergency martial law, infringing upon the deliberation rights of cabinet members during the martial law declaration process, creating and subsequently destroying a falsified cover for the martial law declaration document, and ordering the distribution of press releases containing false information to foreign media.

The case was handled not by the full bench, but by the Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench, consisting of four justices. Justice Oh Seok-june recused himself from the trial, mindful of controversy regarding his personal ties to former President Yoon.

The Supreme Court upheld the seven-year prison sentence, stating there were no issues with the appellate court's judgment, which had found him guilty on most charges.

This marks the first final ruling on criminal charges related to the insurrection case against former President Yoon, 583 days after the emergency martial law declaration.

In particular, the Supreme Court provided a detailed explanation for why the CIO's investigative authority is recognized, effectively eliminating any room for Yoon's side to raise the same issue in the trial regarding his role as the ringleader of the insurrection.

[Justice Lee Heung-gu / Presiding Judge: (The defendant's crime of being the ringleader of an insurrection) is a directly related crime discovered during the investigation of the abuse of official authority, and thus falls under the category of related crimes defined in Article 2, Subparagraph 4, Item (d) of the Act on the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. Therefore, the CIO possesses the authority to investigate this matter.]

Former President Yoon's legal team expressed "deep regret that the case was concluded without sufficient deliberation," adding that they "will pursue a constitutional complaint procedure with the Constitutional Court."

Meanwhile, Park Jong-jun, former Chief of the Presidential Security Service, and Kim Sung-hoon, former Deputy Chief of the Presidential Security Service, who were indicted on charges of obstructing the CIO's execution of an arrest warrant, were sentenced to four years and five years in prison, respectively, in their first trials today.

(Video reporting: Yang Hyun-chul, Video editing: So Ji-hye)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.