South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor for leading an insurrection during his failed martial law declaration in December 2024. The Seoul central district court found that Yoon's actions constituted an attempt to disrupt the constitutional order by mobilizing troops to surround parliament and arrest political opponents.

The court detailed how Yoon ordered military forces to blockade the national assembly and detain key figures including the assembly speaker and party leaders, preventing lawmakers from gathering to deliberate or vote. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing Yoon committed a grave destruction of constitutional order by attempting to paralyze the legislature during the six-hour crisis. The court opted for life imprisonment instead, citing Yoon's lack of meticulous planning and failure to limit physical force.

Yoon becomes the first elected South Korean head of state in the country's democratic era to receive the maximum custodial sentence. The verdict follows a series of related rulings that established the events of December 3 constituted an insurrection, with former prime minister Han Duck-soo receiving a 23-year sentence in January for his role in what the court described as a 'self-coup' by elected power.