What's next for South Korea after Yoon's life sentence?

DW News · Feb 19, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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After more than a year of political upheaval, South Korea's disgraced former President Yoon-Suk-yeol was found guilty on Thursday of leading an insurrection in December 2024 and sentenced to life in prison. And although the ruling by the Seoul Central Court closes the most serious case against Yoon, analysts say South Korea has a long way to go before it can completely shake off the crisis and its prolonged aftermath. During a televised address on December 3, 2024, Yoon declared martial law, claiming his rival Democratic Party (DPK) was "collaborating" with North Korea and undertaking "anti-state activities." Later that night, troops were dispatched to the National Assembly in an attempt to block lawmakers from entering. Parliamentarians were eventually able to convene and vote to lift the declaration that had been in place for only six hours. Scenes from that night shocked South Korea and opened political divisions between the president's supporters and opponents. Yoon was soon impeached and in January 2025 taken into custody after a standoff between his presidential security services and law enforcement outside the presidential residence. During his trial, prosecutors claimed that he mobilized the armed forces to take control of the National Assembly and arrested opposition politicians as part of a personal coup d'etat. In his defense, Yoon claimed he had acted to resist a "national crisis" brought about by the left-wing opposition, adding, "It was an act to protect freedom and sovereignty and to save constitutional governance." Presiding judge Jee Gwi-yeon said Yoon did not express any 'remorse' for the 'enormous social costs' of his actionsImage: Yonhap/REUTERS Verdict does not 'wrap things up' "No matter the verdict, this does not simply 'wrap things up'," said Hyobin Lee, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul. "If anything, this might be the beginning.""I believe the deep-rooted accumulated evils of entrenched elites that are widespread in Korean society are not something that can be fully eliminated," she told DW. "And there are still 'Yoon again' supporters who cheer for him and believe he did nothing wrong. I see that as a seedbed for a second or third Yoon Suk-yeol to emerge," she added. Recent South Korean opinion polls support popular sentiment that Yoon should pay a heavy price. A poll released this month showed that 32% of people anticipated that Yoon would receive the death penalty – a sentence that the prosecution requested – while another 43% expected a life prison term. In a previous poll in January, more than 58% said the prosecution's request for the death penalty was "appropriate." Lee believes that democracy in South Korea – which was a military dictatorship as recently as 1981 – has emerged stronger after the crisis. "On the day martial law was declared, the young soldiers who would have had to carry out the order did not follow through, and no one was injured or killed," she said. "Considering that these young men are often seen as right-leaning and as a group that contributed to the rise of the Yoon government, it is hard not to be surprised." "Korea has now become a country where martial law no longer 'works,' and where non-democratic rule is no longer conceivable. I think the martial-law episode demonstrated that very clearly," Lee said. South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video South Korea's democracy proves 'resilient' but improvements needed Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul told DW that South Korea's democracy has "shown itself to be resilient, capable of restoring domestic stability and managing foreign policy according to the national interest." "However, challenges to South Korea's democracy emanate from both sides of the political spectrum and all branches of government," he added. Protecting democracy going forward will require more fundamental changes, he said, including a constitutional amendment of the role of the presidency, reform of the bureaucracy, keeping partisanship and corruption out of the courts, and achieving a well-functioning legislature. And achieving those aims will require "better political parties," he added. While Yoon's sentencing is important, Easley argued that it does not represent a "national catharsis" as most Koreans had already moved on from the shock of the martial law declaration, while there are another five cases in which Yoon is still awaiting sentencing. How will Yoon's party respond? Attention will inevitably now turn to how the conservative People Power Party (PPP), which Yoon headed, responds to his guilt and punishment.Yoon's supporters gathered for the sentencing Image: Jintak Han/ZUMA/picture alliance The party is in disarray but has signaled a break with its former leader with plans to choose a new name on March 1. Still, it is made up of factions across the conservative spectrum, including those that are still firmly behind Yoon and those that want to wash their hands of him and move on. Easley believes "generational change" is required for the PPP, along with the emergence of a new leader without the baggage of association with Yoon and a spell acting as an effective opposition party. Yoon's opponents gathered during the court proceedings, with some demanding the death penalty Image: Jintak Han/ZUMA/picture alliance On the other hand, The Democratic Party, which enjoys overwhelming control of the National Assembly thanks to the backlash against Yoon in last year's election, runs the risk of complacency in office if it fails to address the needs of the public and will only be able to rule as the party that stood up to Yoon for so long, he added. "Ultimately, Koreans want and deserve a democracy where their leaders need not be impeached, removed, prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison," Easley said. Edited by: Wesley Rahn