Thursday's ruling marks the first final verdict among the eight separate trials Yoon is facing over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.
It came after a lower court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison in January, before an appellate court increased the sentence to seven years in April, though still lighter than the 10 years prosecutors had sought.
Yoon was indicted by independent prosecutors on several charges including insurrection and abuse of power related to the martial law debacle with allegations that he obstructed arrest and search warrants sought by investigators among them.
The top court upheld a lower court ruling that found Yoon guilty of instructing security officials to block investigators from executing arrest and search warrants against him in January last year.
Yoon had appealed the lower court's decision, arguing that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), an independent agency established to root out corruption in government, lacked authority to investigate him on insurrection-related charges.
But the Supreme Court rejected the claim, ruling that the president's constitutional immunity from prosecution does not bar criminal investigations while in office. It elaborated that investigations are permissible as long as they do not interfere with the president's official duties or undermine the authority of the office.
It further ruled that investigators lawfully executed the arrest and search warrants, rejecting Yoon's argument that presidential security officials could refuse access to areas involving military secrets, since whether such a warrant may be executed cannot depend solely on the discretion of those in charge.
Yoon remains on trial in seven other pending cases related to the debacle including the main insurrection and abuse of power charges, for which a lower court sentenced him to life in prison in February which is also under appeal.
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