South Korea, former President Yoon convicted of attempted coup
Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the failed coup in December 2024
from our correspondent Marco Masciaga
NEW DELHI - Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for his role in the failed coup that in December 2024 threatened to plunge one of Asia's most dynamic countries back into an authoritarian era that seemed to have been consigned to the past. The three judges in charge of the case ruled that when he had the army surround the parliament with the aim of paralysing its functions, Yoon conspired, with the complicity of then Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, to subvert the constitutional order. The coup failed thanks to the promptness and courage of a group of parliamentarians who managed to enter the building and invalidate the proclamation of martial law announced shortly before by Yoon in a televised message to the nation. "The court ruled that sending armed troops into parliament to attempt to make arrests constitutes an act of insurrection," said Jee Kui-youn, the judge in charge of reading the verdict.
The prosecution had asked for the death penalty and one of the prosecutors expressed 'regret' over the sentence, but without mentioning the possibility of an appeal. Yoon's lawyers will discuss with the former president whether to appeal, while those of Defence Minister Kim, who was sentenced to 30 years, said they would "obviously" ask for a new trial. Yoon, who was a prosecutor before entering politics, has always denied committing a crime, claiming that the office of president gave him the power to impose martial law. According to Yoon, who has already been sentenced to five years in another case for trying to evade arrest, his was a way to draw attention to the parliamentary obstructionism of opposition parties. On the night of the failed coup, the former president sent soldiers to the headquarters of the National Election Commission to seize the servers on which he was convinced there was evidence of the alleged fraud that had outvoted his party in parliament, a conspiracy theory popular among far-right South Korean YouTubers
