The Korean Bar Association has revoked the lawyer license of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Supreme Court for obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO).
On July 29, the Bar Association announced in a statement that "in accordance with Article 5 (disqualifications of lawyers) and Article 18 (cancellation of registration) of the Lawyer Act, Yoon Suk Yeol's lawyer registration was canceled on July 28."
Under the current Lawyer Act, if a registered lawyer is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of more than one year, the Minister of Justice can order the Bar Association to revoke their registration. This follows the Supreme Court's confirmation of Yoon's seven-year sentence on July 9 for his obstruction of the arrest warrant.
Yoon declared a state of emergency on December 3, 2024, but the National Assembly passed a resolution to lift the emergency declaration about four hours later, leading to its suspension. Subsequently, the Assembly moved to impeach him, resulting in his suspension from duty, and he barricaded himself in his residence in Hannam-dong.
The CIO, which had obtained an arrest warrant, attempted to execute it but faced obstruction from Yoon's security detail, leading to charges filed by the special prosecutor's team led by Jo Eun-seok.
The special prosecutor's indictment included charges of obstructing the execution of the CIO's arrest warrant, infringing on the deliberative rights of the Cabinet by convening only select ministers for a meeting before the emergency declaration, and creating a false declaration of the emergency based on a document signed after the emergency was lifted, which was later discarded.
Yoon was sentenced to five years in prison in the first trial and seven years in the second trial, with the Supreme Court confirming the seven-year sentence.
Yoon passed the 33rd Judicial Examination in 1991 and completed the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 1994. He was appointed as a prosecutor and worked at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC for about a year in 2002 before returning to the prosecution, where he served as the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Prosecutor General.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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