Photo : YONHAP News
The special counsel team that investigated former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2024 martial law action has appealed the ruling in the first of his trials to reach a conclusion, which centered on Yoon’s efforts to obstruct law enforcement from arresting him in January 2025.
In a notice to the press Thursday, the special team said it was appealing the former president’s five-year sentence and his acquittal on some of the charges in the case.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court convicted Yoon of most of the charges brought against him, including abuse of power and special obstruction of the performance of official duties.
It also found that he illegally ordered the secret service to delete phone records and instructed a rewrite of his martial law proclamation to address legal flaws in the original, then discarded the rewrite.
But the court acquitted Yoon of charges stemming from allegations that he invoked the falsified document and also ordered the dissemination of false information to foreign media by misrepresenting his martial law decree as legitimate.
The former president appealed the ruling on Monday, arguing that it was based on public sentiment rather than legal principles.