South Korean court gives ousted President Yoon suspended jail term for lying during campaign

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former South Korean President President Yoon Suk Yeol was convicted of making false statements during his presidential campaign in the latest verdict after he was removed from office last year over his brief imposition of martial law.

Yoon denied the charges, and his lawyers plan to appeal, arguing that the verdict was based on a misinterpretation of the facts and election law. If upheld by higher courts, the ruling could financially cripple the conservative People Power Party by forcing it to return around 40 billion won ($27 million) in election expenses reimbursed by the government after Yoon’s narrow victory over current liberal President Lee Jae Myung in 2022.

Under South Korean law, the government reimburses election expenses for candidates who receive more than 15% of the votes. The law requires those funds to be returned if the candidate is convicted of an election law violation punishable by a fine of 1 million won ($680) or heavier penalties.

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, saying his false statements during the campaign may have affected voters’ “fair judgment” of the candidates.

Yoon quietly listened as the chief judge read the verdict and did not comment after the verdict. The People Power Party did not immediately comment on the ruling.

The court ruled that Yoon lied during a January 2022 interview in which he downplayed his relationship with a fortune teller. That man was later convicted of acting as an intermediary between Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, and the Unification Church, which allegedly bribed her in exchange for political favors.

The court also ruled that Yoon falsely denied at a December 2021 news conference that, while serving as a state prosecutor in 2012, he had introduced a defense attorney to a former Seoul tax official under investigation on bribery allegations.

The case was one of seven ongoing criminal trials facing Yoon, who remains in custody.

He was removed from office in April 2025, months after he issued his brief martial law decree in December 2024, which triggered the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Yoon has appealed some convictions, including for rebellion, the most serious charge stemming from his botched power grab. He was sentenced to life in prison in that case in February.

The Supreme Court earlier this month upheld a seven-year prison sentence against Yoon for sidestepping a legitimate Cabinet deliberation before declaring martial law and resisting law enforcement attempts to arrest him, in his first case to be finalized by the country’s highest court.

Yoon’s surprise late-night martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, lasted only a few hours, after lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and police at Seoul’s National Assembly and voted to repeal the measure, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it.