South Korea’s ex-justice minister jailed for 25 years over martial law bid

A court sentenced a former South Korean

justice minister on Monday to 25 years in prison for his role in ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol

’s brief and disastrous declaration of martial law in 2024.

Park Sung-jae was found guilty of involvement in “insurrection”, the Yonhap news agency reported from the Seoul Central District Court.

Yoon was also given a 30-year jail term earlier this month for sending drones to North Korea to “manufacture a national crisis” to justify his martial law.

Park had held a meeting of justice ministry officials in the early hours of the martial law and checked on prison capacity should the authorities arrest anti-government figures, prosecutors said.

As justice minister, he “instructed cooperation with the martial law command … on the assumption that a decree would be effective”, Yonhap quoted from the verdict.