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South Korea’s Yoon has jail term raised to 7 years in obstruction case
A court increased the ex-president’s sentence from five to seven years on charges related to his botched martial law bid
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South Korea’s jailed former president Yoon Suk-yeol had his prison sentence increased on Wednesday in a separate case linked to his failed martial law decree, in what analysts said could be a “bellwether” for the trials still unfolding from the crisis.
The Seoul High Court raised Yoon’s sentence from five years to seven for obstruction of justice and other offences after finding that he used presidential security agents to block investigators trying to arrest him over the December 2024 decree.
“The court sentences the defendant to seven years in prison,” said Yoon Sung-sik, the presiding judge on the three-judge panel.
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A grim-looking Yoon, wearing a dark suit without a tie, stood to hear the sentence, then looked expressionlessly towards the judges’ bench and bowed slightly before being escorted out of the courtroom.
Yoon is already serving a life sentence in the main case over allegations he led an insurrection through the short-lived martial law declaration, but Wednesday’s ruling offered an early signal of how judges may approach the wider web of prosecutions against him, his aides and others accused of helping carry out or cover up the martial law attempt.
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