South Korean ex-president Yoon appeals against ‘excessive’ life sentence for insurrection

South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk-yeol has filed an appeal against an Insurrection conviction stemming from his 2024 martial law declaration, his lawyers said on Tuesday.The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday found Yoon guilty of leading an Insurrection designed to “paralyse” the National Assembly, sentencing him to life in prison.“We believe we have a responsibility to clearly place on record the problems with this ruling – not only in the court’s records, but also before the judgment of history in the future,” Yoon’s legal team said in a statement on Tuesday.They said they took issue with the prosecution’s “excessive indictment” and would take action against “the contradictory judgment rendered … based on that premise, and the political context surrounding it”.02:23South Korea’s ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol sentenced to life in prison for insurrectionSouth Korea’s ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol sentenced to life in prison for insurrectionLast week, presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon said Yoon sent troops to the National Assembly building in an effort to silence political opponents who had frustrated his attempts to govern.“The court finds that the intention was to paralyse the assembly for a considerable period,” Ji said.