South Korea's former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison Wednesday for playing a key role in an insurrection by abetting former President Yoon's brief imposition of martial law
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SEOUL — South Korea's former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison Wednesday for playing a key role in an insurrection by abetting former President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law.
The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence in the first ruling that confirmed the declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, constituted an insurrection, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The punishment was heavier than the 15 years sought by special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team on charges that included abetting the ringleader of an insurrection, playing a key role in an insurrection and committing perjury.
Judge Lee Jin-gwan, the presiding judge, ordered Han to be placed in custody, citing concerns he could destroy evidence.
The court said the former prime minister took part in the insurrection by proposing that Yoon convene a Cabinet meeting before declaring the decree.
Han did not voice his opposition to the declaration during the Cabinet meeting and appeared to have encouraged then Interior Minister Lee Sang-min to execute Yoon's orders to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of the administration, it said.
"The defendant had a duty as a prime minister indirectly given democratic legitimacy and the responsibility for it to follow the Constitution and laws and make every effort to realise and defend the Constitution," the judge said during the sentencing hearing, which was televised live.
"Even so, he neglected this duty and responsibility until the end, thinking the December 3 insurrection might succeed, and chose to take part as a member," he added.
Han is the first member of Yoon's Cabinet to be sentenced over the martial law decree, which was lifted after six hours following a vote by the National Assembly.
The court also found Han guilty of signing a revised proclamation after the decree was lifted in a bid to enhance its legitimacy, discarding it and lying under oath at the Constitutional Court.
The former prime minister has denied the allegations, saying he had no prior knowledge of the martial law plans aside from the declaration itself and never agreed with it or helped it.
The ruling is expected to have implications for Yoon's own trial on charges that he led an insurrection through the martial law decree.
That trial concluded last week, with the special counsel team demanding the death penalty, and the verdict is set to be announced February 19.
Under the Constitution, an insurrection is defined as an act aimed at removing state authority from part or all of the country or the staging of a riot with the purpose of subverting the Constitution.