Court to hear Yoon’s appeal of obstruction conviction March 4

The appellate trial in the case against former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including obstruction of arrest related to the Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration will begin on March 4.

The Seoul High Court will hold the first hearing in the appeal at 2 p.m. as Yoon challenges his conviction and five-year prison sentence in a case separate from the recent trial court verdict that found him guilty of leading an insurrection and resulted in a life sentence.

The date was set two days after the court launched special appellate panels to handle insurrection-related cases stemming from the martial law attempt on Dec. 3, 2024. 

The former president is accused of mobilizing the Presidential Security Service in January of last year to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from entering his residence to execute an arrest warrant.

He also faces charges of infringing on nine Cabinet members' deliberation rights by convening a meeting of select members to create the appearance of a formal Cabinet meeting shortly before declaring martial law.

Prosecutors allege that after martial law was lifted, Yoon drafted and later destroyed a proclamation to make it appear that the measure had been formally declared based on documents signed by then–Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and then–Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.

The indictment also alleges that he ordered the deletion of secure phone records involving former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung and circulated a press guide to foreign media stating that there was absolutely no intention of undermining constitutional order. 

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison on Jan. 16 for infringing on Cabinet members’ deliberation and voting rights on martial law, drafting and discarding the proclamation after the fact, issuing false briefings following the declaration, ordering the deletion of secure phone records and obstructing the execution of the arrest warrant.

“The defendant, as president, had a duty to defend the Constitution and abide by the law, yet abused his power and disrespected legal orders,” the court stated in the ruling. “He undermined lawful public authority and the country’s legal order, making the offense extremely serious.”

Both Yoon and Special Counsel Cho Eun-seok appealed. Cho had originally sought a combined sentence of 10 years for Yoon, including five years for resisting arrest, two years for wrongfully revising the martial law decree and three years for infringing on Cabinet members' deliberation rights, spreading false information to foreign media and destroying evidence.

Yoon also submitted an appeal Tuesday in a separate case in which the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to life in prison after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection in connection with the martial law declaration. That case is also expected to be handled by the special appellate panels dedicated to insurrection-related cases.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [lee.jiwon10@joongang.co.kr]