On May 7, the Seoul High Court delivered a second-instance verdict on the case of former Prime Minister Han De-soo, who was accused of “participating in important tasks for internal unrest” during the emergency martial law declared by President Yoon Suk-yeol. Han De-soo was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In the first trial held in January, the court found Han De-soo guilty on multiple counts and sentenced him to 23 years in prison, exceeding the prosecution’s request for 15 years. On April 7, the special investigation team in charge of investigating the emergency martial law case requested a sentence of 23 years in prison.
After the verdict was delivered, Han De-soo’s lawyer team and some legal professionals believed that the sentence was too harsh and did not fully consider Han De-soo’s old age, first-time offense, and family members’ illnesses as mitigating factors. The second-instance judge also found that the first trial had made incorrect determinations on some guilty details.
Han De-soo, 76, has long served in the government’s economic department and has twice served as prime minister. In his early years, he deliberately concealed his background due to the regional political environment in South Korea. The South Korean media has previously evaluated him as “extremely pragmatic” and “having a calm and rational work style.”
Han De-soo has long dominated South Korea’s economic policy and has promoted the Korea-US free trade agreement. He has also introduced a plan to introduce foreign workers to address the low birth rate and relaxed restrictions on corporate employment.
On December 3, 2024, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a state of emergency, citing the opposition party’s obstruction of the government’s policies, but the move ultimately failed, and he was impeached and removed from office. South Korea then held an early general election, and Lee Jae-myung from the Democratic Party of Korea was elected.
Last December 15, the special investigation team announced the indictment of 24 government and military officials, including Yoon Suk-yeol and Han De-soo. Yoon Suk-yeol and his subordinates attempted to use the military to replace the National Assembly with an emergency legislative body, ultimately monopolizing legislative and judicial power.
The investigation report revealed that Yoon Suk-yeol had been preparing for the declaration of a state of emergency since October 2023, including reorganizing the military, planning operations, and contacting high-ranking military commanders. His team also prepared tools such as chisels and hammers to torture more than 30 people.
The police also discovered that Yoon Suk-yeol and then-Defense Minister Kim Dong-hyun attempted to provoke North Korea into attacking South Korea by using a drone incident, which would have allowed Yoon Suk-yeol to use the state of emergency to suppress the opposition party and block the National Assembly.
After the declaration of the state of emergency, an assassination team would have taken immediate action, targeting politicians such as the ruling party’s leader, Han Dong-hoon. However, it was later proven that North Korea did not react as Yoon Suk-yeol had expected.
In August 2025, the special investigation team indicted Han De-soo on charges of assisting internal unrest, fabricating public documents, damaging public files, and perjury.
During the final trial, the prosecution pointed out that Han De-soo did not stop Yoon Suk-yeol from implementing the state of emergency on the day of the declaration and instead participated in it and provided assistance, causing significant damage to the country and its citizens.
The prosecution also pointed out that Han De-soo was suspected of conspiring with Yoon Suk-yeol and others to create documents related to the state of emergency after the fact, attempting to justify the declaration of a state of emergency. Furthermore, Han De-soo had previously claimed that he was unaware of the documents related to the state of emergency in the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly, and the special investigation team accused him of perjury, requesting that the court impose a harsher punishment.
As for the main culprit of the internal unrest, Yoon Suk-yeol himself faces more than 10 charges, including abuse of power and forgery of public documents. On January 13, the prosecution requested that the court sentence Yoon Suk-yeol to death.
Due to individual ambitions and structural problems, the political struggles in South Korea’s political arena are extremely fierce and dramatic.
The systematic corruption mode of Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, which centered on the presidential power and divided labor, has become a landmark case in South Korea’s political arena. The charges against them include bribery, manipulation of stock prices, and illegal acceptance of public opinion services. The couple has created a record of being the first former presidential couple to be imprisoned in South Korea’s constitutional history.
President Lee Jae-myung’s attitude towards Yoon Suk-yeol’s case has shifted from “strongly settling accounts” to “leaving some room for maneuver.”
The special investigation team has requested that the court sentence Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison for the case of “dispatching drones to North Korea,” which mainly involves charges of “general treason” and abuse of power.
On April 29, the Seoul High Court delivered a second-instance verdict on the case of Yoon Suk-yeol’s involvement in the state of emergency, and he was sentenced to 7 years in prison, two years more than the first trial.
Yoon Suk-yeol faces more than 10 charges, including internal unrest, abuse of power, and forgery of public documents. Analysts believe that the latest second-instance sentence may become a benchmark for the sentencing of other series of cases.
Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, is suspected of manipulating stock prices and other charges. The presiding judge of the second trial, Shin Jong-woo, was found dead in a flowerbed near the Seoul High Court building on May 6 at around 1 am.
The scene “basically ruled out the possibility of homicide,” and the judge “suspected of falling to death.” The police found a suicide note at the scene, which only expressed apology and did not mention the case. The police are investigating the specific cause of death, assuming that the judge may have jumped to his death.
Some analysts believe that Shin Jong-woo’s jump was triggered by a psychological crisis caused by multiple pressures. He overturned the first trial’s determination, increasing Kim Keon-hee’s sentence from 1 year and 8 months to 4 years, directly touching the interests of the powerful class, and ultimately chose to end his suffering in an extreme way.
