South Korea's former prime minister sentenced to 23 years in prison for rebellion

South Korea's former prime minister was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday by a court for a conviction on rebellion charges.

Former South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, 76, was the first official from the Yoon administration to be convicted of rebellion over the imposition of martial law in December 2024, The Associated Press reported. Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his other associates also face rebellion charges.

Han was appointed by Yoon, and was one of the three caretaker leaders during the martial law crisis that led to Yoon’s impeachment and his eventual removal from office.

The Seoul court, in a televised verdict, determined Yoon’s martial law decree amounted to a rebellion, finding that his dispatch of troops and police officers to the National Assembly and election offices was “a riot” or “a self-coup” meant to undermine the constitutional order.

The court sentenced Han for his key role in the rebellion, as he tried giving procedural legitimacy to the martial law decree by getting it passed through a Cabinet Council meeting. Han was also convicted of falsifying the martial law proclamation, destroying it, and lying under oath.

Han could appeal the ruling, and he has maintained that he told Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan. He has also denied most of the other charges.

The court found that Han neglected his responsibilities as prime minister, which is the second-highest position in South Korea, to protect the constitution, and instead chose to take part in Yoon’s rebellion in the belief that it might succeed.

“Because of the defendant’s action, the Republic of Korea could have returned to a dark past when the basic rights of the people and the liberal democratic order were trampled upon, becoming trapped in the quagmire of dictatorships for an extended period,” Judge Lee Jin-gwan said.

Han became acting president after Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly, controlled by the opposition party, in December 2024. However, he was also quickly impeached after wrangling with opposition lawmakers over his refusal to fill vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, which was deciding whether to formally throw Yoon out of office.

The Constitutional Court later reinstated Han as acting president, but he resigned after the court formally dismissed Yoon as president in early April, and ran for the presidency in last June’s snap election. Han eventually withdrew from the race after failing to win the main conservative party’s nomination.

A former leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae Myung, won the election.