SOUTH KOREA’S far right ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of rebellion and sentenced to life in prison today over his failed imposition of martial law in 2024.

The judgment was a dramatic culmination to the country’s biggest political crisis in decades. Mr Yoon fell from office after attempting to overcome an opposition-controlled National Assembly by declaring martial law and sending troops to surround the parliament on December 3, 2024.

Judge Jee Kui Youn said he found the former president guilty of rebellion for mobilising military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the liberal-led National Assembly, arrest politicians and establish unchecked power for a “considerable” time.

Mr Yoon is expected to appeal.

The court also convicted and sentenced several former military and police officials involved in enforcing Mr Yoon’s martial law decree, including ex-defence minister Kim Yong Hyun, who received a 30-year jail term for his central role in planning the measure and mobilising the military.

Mr Yoon had argued that his decree was necessary to stop liberals, whom he described as “anti-state” forces, from obstructing his agenda with their legislative majority.

The decree lasted about six hours before being lifted, after lawmakers managed to break through a military blockade and unanimously voted to lift the measure.

Mr Yoon was suspended from office on December 14, 2024, after being impeached by lawmakers and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.

Mr Yoon was sentenced to five years in prison last month for resisting arrest, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting before declaring the measure.

Seoul’s Central Court has also convicted two of Mr Yoon’s Cabinet members in other cases.

Then-prime minister Han Duck Soo received a 23-year prison sentence for attempting to legitimise the decree by forcing it through a Cabinet Council meeting, falsifying records and lying under oath.

Mr Han has appealed the verdict.