A court in South Korea has sentenced former Minister for Justice, Park Sung-Jae, over offences of aiding the prohibited martial law.
Sun-Jae was found culpable of playing a key role in erstwhile president Yoon Yeol’s brief and disastrous declaration of martial law which caused massive unrest in the country.
At the Seoul Central District Court on Monday, the former minister was found guilty of indulging in the insurrection over Yuk’s six-hour martial law declaration which was chalked-off by assembly lawmakers who raced down the legislative building to vote the declaration down.
Prosecutors had earlier sought a 20-year sentence for Park, disclosing that he had reduced the law to a tool of insurrection in his abuse of power and posed a challenge to the rule of law.
The convict, who had been standing trial without detention, was taken into custody following the ruling.
Presiding Judge, Lee Jin-gwan, disclosed that Yeol himself has been jailed, 30 years, for the 2024 incident, adding that that his announcement nearly forced the Asian country in a situation in which people’s fundamental rights and basic order of liberal democracy could have been violated.
His shocking late-night national televised address plunged South Korea into an unprecedented political crisis, triggered protests and sent the stock market plunging, and caught key allies such as the United States off guard.
Other sanctions also has Former prime minister, Han Duck-soo, who once toyed with a presidential run, is serving a 15-year prison sentence, as well as former interior minister Lee Sang-min was jailed for nine years.
Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun was sentenced to three years in prison last week for revealing classified military information in furtherance of the insurrection and also Yeoul’s wife, Kim Hee, who is also serving a four-year term for stock manipulation and bribery unrelated to the martial law fiasco.