The Seoul High Court on Thursday reduced former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo’s prison sentence to 15 years from 23 years, while upholding most of the main charges tied to his role in then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration in December 2024.
The appellate court found Han guilty of engaging in key acts related to insurrection, including helping create the appearance that Yoon’s martial law declaration had gone through Cabinet deliberation.
The Seoul High Court, with Judges Lee Seung-cheol, Cho Jin-gu and Kim Min-a presiding, said Han had intent related to the alleged insurrection and the disruption of the constitutional order.
“As prime minister, the defendant abandoned his grave responsibilities and took part in acts of insurrection,” the court said, criticizing him for seeking to avoid responsibility after the incident.
The ruling largely upheld the lower court’s findings that Han played a key role in supporting Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration. The court found him guilty of proposing a Cabinet meeting to make it appear that the declaration had been reviewed by Cabinet members, and of trying to obtain signatures from Cabinet members on related documents after martial law was declared.
The court also found him guilty of discussing with then Interior Minister Lee Sang-min ways to carry out orders related to blocking key institutions and cutting off electricity and water supplies to media outlets.
Han was also found guilty of charges related to false public documents and violations of the Presidential Records Act. The court found that after martial law was lifted, Han signed a revised proclamation prepared to address legal flaws in the original martial law declaration, along with Yoon and then Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, before discarding the document.
The appellate court also upheld a perjury charge related to Han’s testimony during Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in February last year, where Han said he had not seen the martial law proclamation.
However, the court overturned part of the lower court’s perjury finding. It found Han not guilty of perjury over his statement that he did not see Kim hand martial law-related documents to Lee.
Han had been indicted without detention and was taken into custody in January after the first-instance court sentenced him to 23 years in prison.
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