Former South Korean Justice Minister Park Sung-jae was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday for his role in ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief and disastrous martial law declaration in December 2024. The Seoul Central District Court found him guilty of involvement in insurrection, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Details of the Martial Law Declaration
Yoon's martial law declaration lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the National Assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. The declaration plunged South Korea into an unprecedented political crisis, triggering protests, sending the stock market plunging, and catching key allies like the United States off-guard.
Yoon has since been convicted of leading an insurrection and is in detention while appealing a life sentence. He was also given a 30-year jail term earlier this month for sending drones to North Korea to manufacture a national crisis to justify his martial law.
Park Sung-jae's Role and Sentence
Prosecutors said Park held a meeting of justice ministry officials in the early hours of the martial law and checked on prison capacity should the authorities arrest anti-government figures. As justice minister, he instructed cooperation with the martial law command on the assumption that a decree would be effective, Yonhap quoted from the verdict.
Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence for Park, arguing he had reduced the law to a tool of insurrection in his abuse of power and posed a challenge to the rule of law. They said he had shown no remorse. The court imposed a heavier sentence of 25 years.
Other Sentences for Yoon Subordinates
A circle of Yoon subordinates have been given hefty sentences. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who once toyed with a presidential run himself, is serving 15 years in prison. Former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min received nine years. Last week, a former defense minister was sentenced to three years in prison for revealing classified military information in furtherance of the insurrection.
Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, is serving a four-year term for stock manipulation and bribery unrelated to the martial law fiasco.
