On the 7th, the Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 12-1 (Judges Lee Seung-cheol, Cho Jin-gu and Kim Min-a) sentenced Han to 15 years in prison on charges including performing key duties in an insurrection. The term is eight years less than the 23 years imposed at the first trial.
The panel, as in the first trial, said Han played a central role in the process of declaring martial law and shook the constitutional order. It found him guilty of carrying out key tasks for the insurrection, including proposing that a Cabinet meeting be convened to make the declaration appear to have undergone normal deliberation, and trying to obtain after-the-fact signatures from Cabinet members after the declaration.
The court also treated as participation in the insurrection Han’s discussions at the presidential office on the day martial law was declared with former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min about specific measures, including blocking major state institutions and cutting electricity and water to media outlets.
The panel, as in the first trial, also convicted Han of conspiring with Yoon and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to sign and then discard a “post hoc proclamation” drafted by former aide Kang Eui-gu to conceal legal defects in the original proclamation immediately after martial law was lifted. The court found him guilty on charges including creating a false official document and violating the Presidential Records Act.
However, unlike the first trial, the court acquitted Han of perjury. It said Han’s testimony at the Constitutional Court in February last year during the president’s impeachment trial that he “did not see the martial law proclamation” was false, but ruled that his answer to the effect that he “did not see Minister Kim deliver the document to Minister Lee” was difficult to treat as perjury.
As in the first trial, the court did not view as key insurrection duties Han’s act of asking then-People Power Party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho about the situation at the National Assembly after the declaration, or his attendance at an outside event as a stand-in at Yoon’s direction. It also maintained not-guilty rulings on allegations that Han delayed Cabinet deliberation after martial law was lifted and on a charge of using a false official document.
Han’s side said after the ruling that, despite the lighter 15-year sentence, it could not accept the decision “in terms of facts or legal reasoning,” and said it would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.
The special counsel team told reporters it fell short of the first-trial sentence but called it “a very meaningful ruling.” The team said it will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the written judgment.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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