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Yoon’s martial law declaration failed, but his supporters stayed loyal.ImageA rally for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul last year.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSouth Korea’s democracy proved resilient when the country ​foiled then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to ​impose martial law and​ later impeached him. But that drama has also exposed a deep fracture in domestic politics.Mr. Yoon has a small army of supporters that stayed loyal even as he and ​those​ who helped him impose martial law were arrested on insurrection and other ​criminal charges​. And they stuck with him ​even as the country elected a new president, Lee Jae Myung.Thousands have held ​frequent rallies in downtown Seoul, calling Mr. Yoon’s impeachment “null and void” and ​shouting: “Yoon again!”​These protesters form the core of a new political movement widely known as South Korea’s “far right” or “extreme right.” ​They channel fear and hatred ​toward North Korea, China​ and Mr. Lee’s center-left supporters. They subscribe to a conspiracy theory​ claiming that South Korean elections​ have been manipulated by foreign influence, especially from China. Their rallies feature American flags and anti-Chinese slogans.The movement has no overarching leader​ and is spearheaded by Christian pastors and right-wing YouTube ​provocateurs. They often squabble with each other, but their ideological war against Mr. Lee and his Democratic Party is united by common support for Mr. Yoon and his 2024 martial law​ declaration.The declaration itself channeled far-right rhetoric by warning that the country was in danger of being overrun by leftist “anti-state” forces that Mr. Yoon said needed to be “eliminated.”Mr. Yoon’s most prominent supporters include the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, a Presbyterian pastor ​who mobilized his followers to participate in pro-Yoon rallies. He was arrested last month on charges of instigating his followers to attack and vandalize a Seoul courthouse, after a judge there issued a warrant to detain Mr. Yoon on an insurrection charge.Son Hyun-bo​, another Presbyterian pastor ​who has galvanized support for Mr. Yoon, was accused of spreading hate speech ​last year when he said that South Korea would live when ​Mr. Lee die​d. (Mr. Lee had earlier suffered a near-fatal stabbing attack​ from a right-wing activist.)​Some lawmakers from the opposition People Power Party, which Mr. Yoon once led, have criticized his martial law declaration. But the party has not cut ties with him or his supporters.Instead, Ko Sung-kuk, a YouTube influencer who has loudly defended Mr. Yoon, joined the party in January as an adviser. The party later expelled a former leader who had criticized Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration.Jeon Han-gil​, a former history teacher accused of right-wing demagoguery​, ​also joined the party​ last year. Once dismissed as a ​political gadfly, Mr. Jeon ​gained influence among Yoon supporters when he began defending the martial law declaration and amplifying the conspiracy theor​y claiming election fraud.​ He has also called for President Trump to visit Mr. Yoon in prison.Jin Yu Young Reporting from SeoulAt one anti-Yoon rally, protesters are demanding the death penalty for the former president. “Even the death sentence wouldn’t be enough,” says Kim Mo-geun, a college student in his 20s. Another participant, Choi Jaejic, has spent most weekends over the past year at rallies demanding the guilty verdict. “Martial law threw the country into chaos,” says Choi, a translator who lives in Seoul with his wife and two children. “He took away precious time away from my children.” The judges will announce their ruling in Yoon’s case in Courtroom No. 417 at the Seoul Central District Court. It’s the same room where some of South Korea’s past presidents — including Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye — were convicted of criminal charges.Yoon’s jail cell is a world away from his presidential mansion.ImageA television screen at a train station in Seoul showing former President Yoon Suk Yeol in December.Credit...Lee Jin-Man/Associated PressAs president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol lived in a luxurious hilltop mansion, and his office was equipped with a personal sauna. But since the summer he has been sleeping on the floor of a 70-square-foot jail cell.These days, the former head of state is known as Inmate No. 3617​.In January 2025, Mr. Yoon was initially confined to a 107-square-foot cell when he became the first sitting South Korean president to be detained in a criminal investigation. He was released in March after a court ruled that there had been a technical glitch in his detention.When he was arrested again in July, he was given a smaller cell in the same jail: the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of the capital. It has a toilet and a foldable mattress for sleeping​, and it’s monitored around the clock through closed-circuit television. ​His average meal typically costs little more than a dollar.Government officials say Mr. Yoon gets no special treatment, except that he is kept in a room of his own. ​He is also kept apart from other inmates during exercise time.Because his cell has no internet, he can no longer follow right-wing YouTubers who influenced him as president. The TV set in his cell shows only programs authorized by the Ministry of Justice.As president, Mr. Yoon was proud to display a “The Buck Stops Here” plaque, a gift from President Joseph R. Biden Jr., on his large desk. Now his cell has a tiny reading desk that doubles as a dinner table​.Several former South Korean presidents ended up in jail after leaving office. But Mr. Yoon’s imprisonment had its own irony: When he was a prosecutor, Mr. Yoon helped put two former presidents — Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak — in prison on corruption charges.Life in jail has changed Mr. Yoon’s looks. When he attended court sessions in recent months, he appeared to have lost considerable weight. But he has not changed his political stance. He accused prosecutors of “writing fiction” when they accused him of committing insurrection during his short-lived imposition of martial law. His declaration, he said, was a legitimate use of presidential power to alert South Koreans to the danger posed by his enemies in the political left.“Our people and youths know that my martial law was a decree of enlightenment,” Mr. Yoon told the court last month.Here’s what to know about Yoon’s trial.ImageYoon Suk Yeol in Seoul in 2022.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York TimesA South Korean court on Thursday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection when he briefly imposed martial law in 2024.Mr. Yoon’s actions plunged South Korea into a constitutional crisis, and he was later impeached and ousted.Here’s what to know:What is Yoon accused of?Mr. Yoon, 65, has been on trial since April on a series of criminal charges stemming from his martial law declaration on the night of Dec. 3, 2024. The insurrection charge is the most serious.Prosecutors argued that Mr. Yoon’s decision to ban all political activities and order the armed forces to seize the National Assembly​ amounted to an insurrection. They accused him of conspiring with the military commanders and police chiefs to detain his enemies, including the speaker of the Assembly and opposition leaders.South Korea’s criminal code allows only two punishments for the insurrection charge: the death penalty or life imprisonment. Prosecutors had demanded the former. Mr. Yoon denied the insurrection charge throughout his trial. He said he had declared martial law as “a warning” against an obstructive opposition, and he described the legislature as a “den of criminals” who used their parliamentary power to paralyze his government.He had never intended to neutralize the legislature or arrest political leaders, he said.On Thursday, when handing down the guilty verdict, presiding judge Ji Gwiyeon said this claim was contradicted by the fact that military troops and police officers were under orders to arrest Mr. Yoon’s political enemies.The judge said that Mr. Yoon disrupted constitutional order and caused a riot.What happened after his martial law declaration?Mr. Yoon’s decree banned all political activities and placed the news media under military control. Armed troops were sent to take over the National Assembly and the National Election Commission.But he was forced to withdraw it after six hours. Citizens who saw his declaration on TV rushed to the National Assembly and blocked the soldiers while lawmakers gathered inside and voted down his decree in the middle of the night.Mr. Yoon’s actions set off the country’s worst political crisis in decades. He was impeached by the National Assembly on Dec. 14 and arrested on the insurrection charge the following month, making him the first sitting president in South Korean history to face a criminal charge.He was formally expelled from office in April.