[Editorial] 23-year sentence for Han is a becoming condemnation of self-coup

Han Duck-soo, the previous prime minister of South Korea, arrives on the Seoul Central District Court docket within the metropolis’s Seocho District on Jan. 21, 2026, for the studying of the decision in his trial of participating in important actions in service of an rebellion for his function within the declaration of martial regulation by former President Yoon Suk-yeol. (Yonhap)

Han Duck-soo, the previous prime minister of South Korea, was instantly taken into custody after being sentenced to 23 years in jail for taking part within the fee of the rebellion on Dec. 3, 2024. 

This sentence is heavier than the 15-year jail time period sought by prosecutors, and even exceeds the sentence given to Roh Tae-woo for his 1979 coup d’etat with Chun Doo-hwan, generally known as the Dec. 12 army rebellion. 

The courtroom acknowledged that the 2024 martial regulation declaration was “an rebellion from the highest, or what is named a self-coup, by Yoon and his followers.” Decide Lee Jin-gwan justified the stiff sentence by including that “an rebellion by an elected chief shakes the very basis of the individuals’s perception in democracy.” 

This was exactly what residents hoping for judicial condemnation of Yoon and his coconspirators needed to listen to. The courtroom correctly responded to the general public’s calls for for extreme punishment of insurrectionary forces.

Lee’s rationalization for the decision delivered on Wednesday resembled a lesson on the Korean Structure. Lee outlined the Dec. 3 martial regulation declaration as a riot geared toward undermining the constitutional order. He dismissed Yoon and his followers’ claims that the declaration was meant to “enlighten” or “warn” the general public as mere sophistry aiming to evade accountability. Importantly, the courtroom acknowledged that an rebellion instigated by the president is extra harmful than one triggered by the individuals. It is because a top-down rebellion betrays the general public’s religion in democracy and the rule of regulation. 

The courtroom harassed that the reckless actions of far-right forces — who cited “the individuals’s proper to withstand” as they rioted on the Seoul Western District Court docket in 2025 and unfold baseless election fraud conspiracy theories — have been all byproducts of Yoon’s self-coup. 

Furthermore, the shockwaves from this rebellion have been far better than these from the coup which occurred 45 years in the past, given the incomparably completely different standing Korea now has in worldwide politics. On this context, the courtroom acknowledged, “Earlier Supreme Court docket rulings on rebellion can not function a benchmark for figuring out the extent of punishment for contributors within the Dec. 3 rebellion,” asserting that heavier sentences have to be imposed. 

It is a matter-of-fact, clear-cut choice. It’s only regrettable that such a wise ruling couldn’t be made earlier.

The courtroom acknowledged that Han, because the second-in-command of state affairs, failed to meet his accountability to dissuade the president from acts that trampled on the constitutional order. The trial revealed that the previous prime minister selected to hitch Yoon’s efforts as a substitute, below the misguided perception that Yoon’s rebellion would succeed. This almost plunged Korea again right into a darkish previous the place residents’ basic rights have been violated and democracy was torn to shreds. 

But Han didn’t mirror on his wrongs or apologize for them. He hid his crimes and obfuscated the reality in regards to the rebellion. A profession bureaucrat who has held titles of minister and prime minister for years, Han is a typical instance of the distorted elite of our society. We must not ever enable such bureaucrats to emerge once more.

It’s also noteworthy that the choose talked about the atypical Koreans who stamped out the Dec. 3 rebellion, the army and police who supplied passive resistance, and the politicians who voted to carry the state of emergency. The rebellion ended swiftly because of their efforts, not as a result of it was a mere warning as Yoon and his allies declare. 

The individuals now await Decide Jee Kui-youn to make his choice on the trial of Yoon Suk-yeol. We hope Jee’s courtroom can even deliver Yoon, the ringleader of the rebellion, to justice in accordance with the Structure and the regulation.

Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]