Appeals court cuts ex-PM’s sentence to 15 years, but upholds insurrection conviction

“Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday after an appeals court overturned a lower court ruling but still found him guilty of playing a key role in an insurrection linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law. A panel of judges, led by Lee Seung-cheol, at the Seoul High Court quashed the original 23-year sentence and reduced it to 15 years, while issuing a strongly worded condemnation that any act aimed at extinguishing the Constitution’s functions can “never be tolerated under any circumstances.” Judges ruled that the martial law decree, declared by Yoon in December 2024, was unconstitutional and unlawful, and said Han helped give it the appearance of legitimacy by proposing a Cabinet meeting that made it look as if the decision had undergone proper deliberation. The court found that by proposing the meeting and trying to have Cabinet ministers sign related documents after the declaration, he performed an important role in the insurrection. The court said an insurrection does not merely paralyze state funct

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