Seoul High Court upholds Yoon election conviction

The Seoul High Court rejected Yoon Suk Yeol's appeal on Wednesday, upholding an 18-month prison term, suspended for three years, for election-law violations. If the sentence is finalized, the ruling would annul Yoon's 2022 presidential victory and require the People Power Party to repay 39.7 billion won ($29.6 million) in state campaign reimbursements.

The court affirmed the lower court

The appeals court affirmed the sentence a district court imposed in July, CNA reported. The hearing was televised live. The presiding judge said Yoon, who had a duty to give voters accurate information, "disseminated disinformation" and had "consistently resorted to excuses" from the investigation through the trial.

Yoon, 65, wearing a white shirt and dark jacket, showed no emotion as the appeal was rejected. His legal team called the ruling "unjust" and said it imposed a penalty "without adequately considering the context", according to CNA.

Why the repayment matters

Under South Korean law, the National Election Commission reimburses political parties for campaign spending if their candidate wins at least 15 percent of the vote. A finalized prison sentence, or a fine of at least 1 million won, for election offences voids the election and forces the party to return the money, CNA reported.

The 39.7 billion won represents roughly one-third of the People Power Party's assets, according to election commission filings cited by CNA. The party is Yoon's former party and the main opposition force in the National Assembly. No repayment has been ordered yet because the sentence is not final.

For Yoon, the election ruling is largely symbolic: he is already serving life imprisonment for leading an insurrection over his December 2024 martial law declaration. The financial and political consequences would fall on the People Power Party.

The statements at issue

The conviction rests on campaign statements from before the 2022 election. The Korea Times reported Yoon was charged over a December 2021 press event, where he said he had not introduced a lawyer to a former tax official, the brother of a close associate from his time as a prosecutor. He also faced charges over a January 2022 interview in which he denied that a party official had introduced him to shaman Jeon Seong-bae, and denied that he and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, had met Jeon together.

What happens next

Yoon's legal team said it would appeal to the Supreme Court, CNA reported. The sentence is not final until that appeal ends.