Seoul court hands former prime minister 23 years for martial‑law role

A Seoul court today sentenced former prime minister Han Duck‑soo to 23 years in prison, finding him guilty of abetting and facilitating the December 2024 declaration of martial law and related procedural and evidentiary crimes. The Seoul Central District Court ordered Han detained immediately after the televised verdict, citing concerns he might destroy evidence; the judge said he expected appeals to proceed up to the Supreme Court.

Han, 76, was convicted of participating in what the court characterized as a "top‑down insurrection" and of failing to hold a lawful cabinet meeting required by law after the president's decree to mobilize the military. The court concluded that Han took part in creating the outward appearance of a cabinet meeting to provide procedural legitimacy to the decree, falsified and later destroyed the martial‑law proclamation, and lied under oath. The ruling also found he participated in "an essential task in carrying out the insurrection," including handling a decree prepared after the declaration that was later discarded, and consented to measures such as cutting power and water supplies to media outlets.

Judge Lee Jin‑gwan said Han "disregarded his duty and responsibility as prime minister until the very end" and warned that the actions put South Korea at risk of returning to a past in which "basic rights and liberal democratic order of the people were violated." The court further described the episode as amounting to a threat to constitutional order and regional stability, characterizing the dispatch of troops and police to Parliament and election offices as "a riot" or "a self‑coup."

The 23‑year sentence exceeds the 15 years requested by the independent counsel, a disparity that legal observers said will heighten scrutiny of appellate courts. Han denied wrongdoing on the core charges while acknowledging limited responsibility for partial perjury; he was not detained before the sentencing but is now in custody pending the appeals process.

Han is the first former cabinet minister to be found guilty by a lower court on criminal charges directly linked to the December 2024 martial‑law episode. The ruling follows the conviction last week of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who received five years in jail on charges tied to the same episode. Yoon remains the subject of additional criminal proceedings, including a separate rebellion case.

Beyond legal consequences for the individuals involved, the verdict has material political and economic implications. The court's framing of the December 2024 actions as an insurrection marks a decisive judicial rebuke of emergency power use and increases legal uncertainty around executive authority. That uncertainty can weigh on investor confidence, complicate fiscal planning and monetary policy, and raise the political risk premium for foreign and domestic capital. Policymakers may face intensified pressure to tighten oversight of emergency declarations and to legislate clearer limits on military deployments in domestic affairs.

The conviction also sets a significant precedent in the judicialization of high‑level political crises in South Korea. By treating a brief martial‑law imposition as criminal conduct with long prison terms, the courts signal a robust check on future executive excesses. Appeals are expected to test that precedent up to the Supreme Court, and the conservative and liberal political blocs are likely to frame the outcome differently as they recalibrate strategy in an unsettled political landscape.