South Korean court rules Yoon’s martial law illegal as walls close in
Judges are fast-tracking verdicts to beat statutory time limits, dashing the ex-president’s faint hopes of walking free early next year
The judgment, issued during the bribery trial of former army intelligence chief Noh Sang-won, marked the first time a criminal court had explicitly classified the declaration as illegal – a verdict that could now shape the outcome of Yoon’s own insurrection trial.
Noh, who was convicted of corruption, now faces a separate trial alongside the ex-president and former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who prosecutors say joined in the plot to subvert the National Assembly and concentrate power in Yoon’s hands.
There would be enormous public backlash if Yoon were set free again
By declaring the martial law decree both unconstitutional and unlawful, the ruling had effectively paved the way for other courts, including the one handling Yoon’s case, “to follow suit”, said Lim Ji-bong, a law professor at Sogang University.