Dueling Protests at South Korean Ex-Leader’s Sentencing Highlight Political Rift

As a judge reprimanded former President Yoon Suk Yeol for amplifying political tribalism, demonstrators from warring camps blared slogans outside the courtroom.Supporters of former President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea reacting to his trial in Seoul on Thursday.Credit...Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 19, 2026, 7:31 a.m. ETThe dueling protests outside the Seoul courthouse where former President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday were heavy on bitterness and retributive fervor — familiar sentiments in a country with deep political polarization.The court found Mr. Yoon guilty of leading an insurrection in 2024, when he declared martial law and sent special forces into the National Assembly to arrest his political opponents. The presiding judge said he had pushed South Korean society into an “extreme state of conflict” between warring political camps.On Thursday, those tensions were on display outside the courthouse, where pro- and anti-Yoon groups blared their respective slogans — and calls for Mr. Yoon and his political nemesis, President Lee Jae Myung, to receive the death penalty — through loudspeakers.ImageA protester holding a placard showing a photo of Mr. Yoon reading “A death sentence” during a rally against the former president in Seoul on Thursday.Credit...Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn one camp, hundreds of Yoon supporters gathered in front of a makeshift stage with a screen playing a live broadcast of the trial. Some waved American flags, a symbol commonly used by South Korea’s far-right movement. One man stood atop a van wearing a jacket that said “MKGA,” short for Make Korea Great Again. Mr. Yoon has enthusiastically courted such crowds ever since his impeachment.Several blocks away, a smaller cluster of anti-Yoon protesters chanted for the death penalty, the punishment that prosecutors had sought for the ex-president.One demonstrator, Choi Jaejic, said he had spent nearly every weekend over the past year joining rallies calling for a conviction. “Martial law threw the country into chaos,” said Mr. Choi, a translator. “He took away precious time away from my children.”“Even the death sentence wouldn’t be enough,” said Kim Mo-geun, a college student in his 20s.Mr. Yoon himself showed little emotion in court. After his sentence was read aloud, a television camera showed him averting his gaze from the judge.But his supporters and political adversaries were clearly not satisfied with the verdict.Mr. Yoon’s lawyers called the sentence political theater, saying in a statement that the judges had ignored the truth and “knelt before the political force that wanted to purge its enemy.” They also vowed to “fight to the end.”“It’s unbelievable,” Kim Sook-min, a Yoon supporter in her 60s, said outside the courthouse as she held a South Korean flag in support of the former president. “I am at a loss for words.”On the other side of the political divide, Jung Chung-rae, the leader of the governing Democratic Party, expressed disappointment that the sentence had fallen short of the death penalty. He described the outcome as “a ruling that defied the South Korean public’s sense of justice.”Jin Yu Young is a reporter and researcher for The Times, based in Seoul, covering South Korea and international breaking news.SKIP Site IndexNewsHome PageU.S.WorldPoliticsNew YorkEducationSportsBusinessTechScienceWeatherThe Great ReadObituariesHeadwayVisual InvestigationsThe MagazineArtsBook ReviewBest Sellers Book ListDanceMoviesMusicPop CultureTelevisionTheaterVisual ArtsLifestyleHealthWellFoodRestaurant ReviewsLoveTravelStyleFashionReal EstateT MagazineOpinionToday's OpinionColumnistsEditorialsGuest EssaysOp-DocsLettersSunday OpinionOpinion VideoOpinion AudioMoreAudioGamesCookingWirecutterThe AthleticJobsVideoGraphicsTrendingLive EventsCorrectionsReader CenterTimesMachineThe Learning NetworkSchool of The NYTinEducationAccountSubscribeManage My AccountHome DeliveryGift SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsGift ArticlesEmail NewslettersNYT LicensingReplica EditionTimes Store