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Seoul Court Sentences Four Former Security Officials to Prison Terms Over Blocking Yoon Arrest
The Seoul Central District Court on July 9 handed prison terms to four ex-Presidential Security Service officials for obstructing an arrest warrant against former President Yoon Suk Yeol. Sentences ranged from a suspended one-year term to five years, with three defendants ordered detained immediately.
Jul 9, 3:29 AM·1m read1 source
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The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Jong-joon, former chief of the Presidential Security Service, to four years in prison on July 9, 2026. Kim Seong-hoon, the former deputy chief, received five years for obstructing investigators and for helping delete records from secure phones used by military commanders after Yoon's martial law declaration.
Lee Kwang-woo, former chief of the PSS bodyguard division, was sentenced to two and a half years.
Kim Shin, a former PSS official in charge of presidential family security, received a suspended one-year prison term. The court ordered the immediate detention of Park, Kim Seong-hoon and Lee, citing flight risk. The convictions centered on the officials' actions to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from executing an arrest warrant for Yoon at the presidential residence in January 2025.
The warrant concerned Yoon's imposition of martial law. The court stated that the defendants mobilized PSS officials to obstruct the lawful execution of the warrant in accordance with Yoon's instructions. It added that Park was supposed to have refused those instructions and that Kim Seong-hoon played the most active and hard-line role.
Park and Kim Seong-hoon attended the sentencing hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, Yonhap reported.
