South Korea’s ex-justice minister jailed for 25 years over martial law bid

A court sentenced a former South Korean justice minister on Monday to 25 years in prison for his role in ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s brief and disastrous declaration of martial law in 2024.

Park Sung-jae was found guilty of involvement in “insurrection”, the Yonhap news agency reported from the Seoul Central District Court.

Yoon’s December 2024 martial law declaration lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. He has since been convicted of leading an insurrection, and is in detention while appealing a life sentence.

Yoon 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.

Former justice minister Park Sung-jae arrives for his trial at the Seoul Central District Court on March 23. Photo: Yonhap/EPA

Park had 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, prosecutors said.

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.