Military Commanders Sentenced to Prison for Deploying Troops to National Assembly and Election Commission; Former Defense Security Commander Yeo In-hyung Gets 18 Years

Martial law troops breaking into the main building of the National Assembly on the day of the emergency martial law on December 3.

Military forces also rushed into the headquarters of the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.

The first-instance rulings for five military commanders who mobilized troops under the unlawful martial law have been handed down 1 year and 9 months later.

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced former Defense Security Commander Yeo In-hyung to 18 years in prison, former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo to 15 years, former Intelligence Command Chief Moon Sang-ho to 12 years, former Martial Law Commander Park An-su to 10 years, and former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-geun to 9 years, respectively.

Former Commander Yeo was found guilty of forming an "anti-state forces joint arrest squad" to arrest around 10 politicians, including then Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

The court also pointed out that he recognized the unlawfulness of the purpose of declaring emergency martial law through multiple meetings with former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.

[Lee Hyun-kyung / Presiding Judge, Criminal Settlement Division 26, Seoul Central District Court: The fact that the defendants' orders were not actually carried out was due to the passive duty of unit members and citizens' resistance, and appears unrelated to the defendants' will, so it is not considered a favorable sentencing factor.]

Former Commander Lee Jin-woo was found guilty of receiving instructions directly from former President Yoon, such as "go into the plenary session hall and have four people lift and carry out one person," just before the passage of the National Assembly's demand for the lifting of emergency martial law, and passing them down to his unit members.

The court ruled that former Martial Law Commander Park An-su issued an unconstitutional and unlawful decree, and former Commander Moon Sang-ho participated in the preliminary conspiracy of martial law.

Among them, former Commander Kwak Jong-geun, who was the only one to admit to all charges, received the lightest sentence.

The court reprimanded them, stating, "All of the defendants abandoned the military's political neutrality and used the military politically for a specific faction," adding, "The crime of insurrection, which endangers the survival of the state, is incomparably more grave than any other crime."

The special counsel and the defendants plan to decide whether to appeal upon receiving the written judgments.

Reported by Jang Hun-gyeong | Video edited by Lee So-young | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.