South Korea Supreme Court Upholds 7-Year Sentence for Yoon on Obstruction of Justice Charges

South Korea’s Supreme Court on July 9 upheld a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of obstruction of justice and related crimes connected to his December 3, 2024 martial law declaration. The decision affirmed an April 2026 Seoul High Court ruling that convicted Yoon of infringing on Cabinet members’ right to deliberate before the declaration, falsifying the official proclamation to cover up the lapse, destroying the document, and deploying presidential security forces to resist law enforcement efforts to arrest him in January 2025.

The Supreme Court ruling is final.

Yoon did not attend the hearing. He has been in custody since July 2025. The Constitutional Court removed him from office in April 2025 after determining that the martial law decree lacked legal grounds and failed to follow required procedures, Abc News reported.

Yoon faces eight trials connected to the martial law declaration, Yonhap reported. He is appealing a life sentence for rebellion handed down by an appeals court in his main insurrection trial. He is also appealing a 30-year prison term in a separate case accusing him of ordering drone flights in 2024 to heighten tensions with North Korea, Abc News reported.

Yoon’s legal team issued a statement expressing “deep regret” over the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying the justices concluded a significant case without sufficient review.