KOR
▲ Former Defense Security Commander Yeo In-hyung (from left), former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo, former Defense Intelligence Commander Moon Sang-ho, former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, and former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun
Former high-ranking military generals who participated in the December 3 emergency martial law have been sentenced to prison terms.
The 26th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-kyung) sentenced former Defense Security Commander Yeo In-hyung, who was indicted on charges of engaging in important missions of insurrection and abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights, to 18 years in prison today (September 21).
Former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The special counsel team for the insurrection led by Cho Eun-seok had previously sought 30 years in prison for each of them.
Former Defense Intelligence Commander Moon Sang-ho was sentenced to 12 years in prison, former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, who served as martial law commander at the time, to 10 years, and former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun to 9 years.
The court found most of the charges against them guilty, including deploying troops to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission (NEC) and organizing and operating politician arrest squads during the December 3 emergency martial law.
The court determined that immediately after the declaration of martial law, former Commander Yeo organized a "joint arrest squad for anti-state forces" to arrest about 10 politicians, including then-Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.
It also recognized as fact the charges that he received instructions from former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun to seize the NEC and secure computer data, dispatched Defense Security Command troops to the NEC and other locations, and committed perjury regarding the martial law troops' infiltration of the NEC during the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and military court trials.
Based on former Commander Yeo's notes containing details about the joint politician arrest squad and the operation of a task force dedicated to election fraud investigations, the court pointed out that he actively conspired with former President Yoon Suk Yeol and others in advance.
It also noted that he held multiple prior meetings with former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Minister Kim Yong-hyun, recognizing that the purpose of declaring the emergency martial law was illegal.
Former Commander Lee Jin-woo was found guilty of ordering Capital Defense Command troops to deploy to the National Assembly after martial law was declared.
The court explained that right before the National Assembly passed the resolution demanding the lifting of emergency martial law, he received instructions from former President Yoon Suk Yeol to drag out lawmakers and passed them on directly to unit members.
Former Chief of Staff Park An-su was found guilty of participating in the insurrection by issuing an unconstitutional and illegal martial law decree as martial law commander and ordering the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency to blockade the National Assembly.
The court pointed out that former Chief of Staff Park was at least obliquely aware that former President Yoon Suk Yeol intended to make it impossible for the National Assembly to exercise its authority by issuing an unconstitutional and illegal decree.
He argued that his actions at the time were coerced by superiors, but the court did not accept this.
The reasoning was that as the Army Chief of Staff, who had access to military intelligence, he recognized that the situation was not an emergency, yet he did not separately advise his superiors otherwise.
Former Commander Moon Sang-ho was found guilty of participating in the prior conspiracy of martial law and deploying troops to the NEC, while former Commander Kwak Jong-keun was found guilty of dispatching Special Warfare Command troops to the National Assembly, the Democratic Party headquarters, and the NEC Gwacheon complex, with each receiving guilty verdicts.
Regarding the sentencing rationale, the court criticized, "The crime of insurrection, which threatens the existence of the state, is incomparably grave. The defendants turned their backs on the political neutrality of the military and used the military politically for a specific faction."
(Photo provided by the Constitutional Court, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
