Appeals Court Raises Yoon Suk Yeol’s Sentence To Seven Years

An appeals court on April 29 increased Yoon Suk Yeol's prison sentence to seven years for resisting arrest and bypassing a full Cabinet meeting before his Dec. 3, 2024 martial law decree, the court said.

The conviction comes on top of a life sentence Yoon has already received on rebellion charges linked to his Dec. 3, 2024 authoritarian push that judicial rulings said triggered a severe political crisis.

Yoo Jeong-hwa, one of Yoon's lawyers, called the verdict "very disappointing" and said his team would appeal to the Supreme Court, while prosecutors last week requested a 30-year term in a separate trial over alleged drone flights over Pyongyang.

Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024 after impeachment and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025, and his Dec. 3, 2024 decree paralyzed politics, diplomacy and rattled financial markets.

Yoon has appealed his life sentence and his legal team said they will appeal the seven-year verdict to the Supreme Court, while he remains in custody as a series of criminal trials continue.