A South Korean court found ex-president Yoon Yeol guilty of insurrection on Thursday and sentenced him to life in prison.

The court revealed that Yeol’s martial law declaration in December 2024 was a plot to paralyse the National Assembly of the country.

Recall that the ex-president abruptly declared martial law in a televised address in December 2024, saying drastic measures were needed to root out anti-state forces.

Presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon said Yoon dispatched troops to the assembly building in an effort to silence his political opponents.

“The Court finds that the intention was to paralyse the assembly for a considerable period,” Ji told Seoul Central District Court.

“The declaration of martial law resulted in enormous social costs, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for that,” the judge said. “We sentence Yoon to life imprisonment.”

Under South Korean law, the charge of leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that Yoon committed a grave destruction of constitutional order by mobilising troops to surround parliament and attempting to arrest political opponents during the six-hour crisis.