Former South Korean PM jailed for 23 years for role in martial law insurrection

Original article by Raphael Rashid in Seoul

South Korea’s former prime minister Han Duck-soo has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for his role in an insurrection stemming from the former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law declaration.

The judge, Lee Jin-kwan, ordered Han’s immediate detention.

The verdict on Wednesday marks the first judicial ruling that the 3 December 2024 martial law attempt constituted insurrection. Han has the right to appeal.

The court found that Han had actively created the appearance of a legitimate cabinet meeting to rubber-stamp an unconstitutional decree.

Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence.

However, the judge rejected using precedents from past military coups as sentencing guidelines, calling this a “self-coup” by elected power that posed unique dangers to democracy.

Lee said Han, as prime minister, had a constitutional duty to prevent the insurrection but instead “chose to join” it.

The court found no genuine remorse, noting that Han had continued concealing evidence and lying throughout the trial.

Among the most damaging evidence came from an 8 December phone call when Han told a presidential aide to destroy a backdated martial law document, saying: “Let’s make it as if my signature never existed.”

The court noted that Han, 76, knew about the martial law plan hours before Yoon’s televised announcement at 10.28pm on 3 December.

CCTV footage showed him nodding as Yoon explained the plan and receiving documents including the martial law proclamation.

Only six cabinet ministers were summoned in advance to the presidential office. The court found that Han had helped ensure the meeting had the minimum quorum needed while preventing meaningful deliberation.

The court also found Han guilty of creating false documents, destroying presidential records and perjury during Yoon’s impeachment proceedings.

Prosecutors demanded 15 years by arguing that Han bore unique responsibility as the only person constitutionally positioned to block the decree by refusing to countersign it or to convene a cabinet meeting.

Han is a career diplomat who served five presidents across conservative and progressive administrations.

Yoon appointed him the prime minister in May 2022, making him the longest-serving prime minister under any single president in South Korean democratic history.

He maintained throughout the trial that he privately opposed martial law and was in psychological shock. “I never supported it or tried to help it,” he told the court in November.

Unlike Yoon and other co-defendants, Han remained free throughout his trial after a judge rejected his arrest warrant in August, citing “room for legal dispute” over his culpability.

The verdict was delivered five days after a separate court sentenced Yoon to five years’ imprisonment for obstructing his own arrest.

Yoon’s verdict over his insurrection trial is scheduled for 19 February. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty.