Former South Korean justice minister gets 25-year prison term for role in martial law declaration

Former South Korean justice minister Park Sung-jae arrives for his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 22, 2026. (Kim Ju-hyung/Yonhap via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea — A former South Korean justice minister was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday after a court found him guilty of helping ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol carry out his brief declaration of martial law in 2024.

The Seoul Central District Court said it was clear Park Sung-jae played a key role in Yoon’s attempted power grab following the declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, including ordering ministry officials to assess detention capacities at correctional facilities to prepare for arrests of politicians.

Park also instructed officials to consider sending prosecutors to Yoon’s martial law command to support possible investigations into the former conservative leader’s political opponents and his unsubstantiated claims about liberal-led election fraud. Park also ordered immigration authorities to be prepared to impose travel bans, the court said.

Yoon’s martial law, which followed a yearslong standoff with liberals controlling the legislature, lasted only about six hours before lawmakers broke through a blockade of soldiers Yoon dispatched to the National Assembly and voted to overturn it, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift the measure.

Judge Lee Jin-gwan said Park abandoned his responsibility to uphold the constitution and law by taking part in Yoon’s authoritarian push. He described Yoon’s martial law decree as a “self-coup” by an incumbent leader seeking to monopolize power. He said Park’s role would have been critical had Yoon succeeded in suppressing and removing his political opponents and preventing the legislature from demanding the lifting of martial law.

Park had denied the charges, saying he was merely carrying out duties required during a national emergency. Park’s lawyers didn’t immediately say whether they would appeal.

Yoon was impeached and suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, before being formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025. He was arrested in July 2025, and multiple criminal trials are ongoing.

The Seoul court earlier sentenced Yoon to life in prison on rebellion charges. In a separate case, Yoon received a 30-year term for allegedly ordering drone flights over Pyongyang in October 2024 to manufacture tensions with North Korea and justify declaring martial law at home. Yoon has appealed both verdicts.

Park is the latest of several members of Yoon’s cabinet to receive prison sentences for their roles in the martial law imposition.

Former defence minister Kim Yong Hyun received a 30-year term for his central role in mobilizing the military to enforce martial law and seeking the arrests of Yoon’s political opponents, as well as a separate 30-year sentence for planning drone flights over Pyongyang.

Ex-prime minister Han Duck-soo was initially sentenced to 23 years on charges that included attempting to lend procedural legitimacy to Yoon’s decree by securing its approval through a formal cabinet meeting, but an appeals court later reduced his sentence to 15 years.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press