In a landmark ruling that closes another key chapter in South Korea’s post-2024 political upheaval, a Seoul district court handed down a 25-year prison sentence Monday to former justice minister Park Sung-jae, finding him guilty of actively aiding ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived, unlawful 2024 declaration of martial law.
The Seoul Central District Court confirmed that Park occupied a central coordinating role in Yoon’s bid to consolidate power, which unfolded after the president imposed martial law on December 3, 2024 amid a years-long political deadlock with liberal lawmakers who controlled the National Assembly. Court documents outline that Park ordered officials within his ministry to evaluate available detention space at national correctional facilities, a step explicitly taken to prepare for mass arrests of opposition political figures. He also directed state prosecution staff to deploy to Yoon’s ad-hoc martial law command center to back its operational work, and ordered immigration agencies to be on standby to implement immediate travel bans for targeted individuals, the court ruled.
Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law collapsed within six hours, after opposition lawmakers breached a military blockade set up outside the National Assembly building and passed an emergency vote to invalidate the decree. The vote forced Yoon’s own cabinet to reverse the order, setting off a rapid chain of political consequences that ended Yoon’s presidency. Park was the top justice official in Yoon’s administration at the time of the attempted power grab.
In delivering the verdict, presiding Judge Lee Jin-ganto emphasized that Park had violated his core constitutional duty to uphold South Korea’s democratic legal framework by aligning with Yoon’s authoritarian push. “By participating in this plan to undermine the nation’s elected legislature, Park abandoned every obligation he owed to the South Korean people and the rule of law,” Judge Lee noted in the ruling.
Park has consistently denied all charges against him, arguing he was only fulfilling routine responsibilities required during what was framed as a national emergency. As of Monday, his legal team had not yet announced whether they would file an appeal against the conviction and sentence.
This ruling adds to a string of convictions for senior members of Yoon’s ousted administration connected to the 2024 martial law incident. Yoon himself was impeached by the National Assembly on December 14, 2024, formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April 2025, and taken into custody in July that same year. He has already been sentenced to life in prison on charges of rebellion stemming from the martial law declaration, and received a separate 30-year sentence for orchestrating unauthorized drone flights over Pyongyang, North Korea, in October 2024. Prosecutors argue the drone incursion was deliberately planned to stoke inter-Korea tensions and create a pretext for imposing martial law domestically. Yoon has filed appeals against both of his convictions.
Other senior officials have already been sentenced for their roles in the scheme. Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun was handed two concurrent 30-year prison terms: one for his central role in mobilizing military forces to enforce martial law and target opposition politicians, and a second for his involvement in the North Korea drone plot. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was initially sentenced to 23 years in prison for helping secure formal cabinet approval for Yoon’s martial law decree to grant it procedural legitimacy, saw his sentence reduced to 15 years on appeal.