South Korea Supreme Court to Rule Next Week on Former President Yoon Obstruction Case

The Supreme Court of South Korea will deliver its verdict next week on charges that former President Yoon Suk Yeol obstructed justice, Yonhap reported Thursday. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. next Thursday.

The charges arise from Yoon's declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. Yoon is accused of ordering his bodyguards to stop investigators from executing a warrant to detain him in January 2025. He also faces charges of violating the rights of nine Cabinet members by not calling them to an advance meeting to review his martial law plan, falsifying public documents by revising the martial law proclamation after the decree was lifted, and discarding the revised document.

An appeals court sentenced Yoon to seven years in prison in April after finding him guilty of the obstruction charges. That term is two years higher than the lower court's ruling but less than the 10 years recommended by a special counsel team. Yoon's main trial on charges of leading an insurrection through the martial law bid remains ongoing at an appellate court, where he received a life sentence in the first ruling.