An appellate court in Seoul reduces former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae’s prison sentence from 25 years to nine years over his role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived, failed martial law declaration in December 2024. The court rules that Park played a key part in an insurrection related to Yoon’s emergency decree, while also overturning parts of the lower court’s decision.
According to the rulings described by both outlets, the appellate court finds Park was aware that Yoon’s martial law order did not meet the substantive and procedural requirements and was pursued for unconstitutional and illegal purposes. It also highlights specific actions taken by Park, including orders affecting an immigration-office exit ban report and instructions for correctional services to assess detention capacity. However, the court acquits Park of additional insurrection-related charges tied to other instructions referenced in the reporting.
Yonhap and the Korea Times both report the same core outcome and reasoning focus—sentence reduction, the martial law context, and the appellate court’s treatment of particular charges—without adding differing factual claims in the provided summaries.
