South Korea just handed down a tough political ruling, and it landed on a former prime minister. The Guardian reports that Han Duck-soo was sentenced on Wednesday to 23 years behind bars for helping then-President Yoon Suk Yeol push through an unconstitutional martial law decree in December 2024—an attempt the court formally labeled as an insurrection and "self-coup" by elected leaders. Judge Lee Jin-kwan ordered Han taken into custody on the spot and said the 76-year-old, who has served five presidents, had a constitutional duty to stop the move but instead helped orchestrate it.
Prosecutors had asked for 15 years, but the court went higher, citing a lack of remorse and emphasizing the threat to democracy that his actions caused. Evidence included CCTV footage of Han meeting with Yoon and nodding along as Yoon explained his martial law plan, as well as a Dec. 8 phone call in which Han was said to have urged a presidential aide to get rid of a backdated martial law document, noting, "Let's make it as if my signature never existed."
"Because of the defendant's action, the Republic of Korea could have returned to a dark past when the basic rights of the people and the liberal democratic order were trampled upon, becoming trapped in the quagmire of dictatorships for an extended period," the judge noted in the ruling, per the AP. Han, who insists he privately opposed martial law, has a week to appeal, per the New York Times. Yoon's own insurrection verdict, for which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, is due on Feb. 19.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
