Yoon Seok-yeol obstruction of arrest case, 7-year prison sentence finalized by the Supreme Court

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol has received a final sentence of seven years in prison from the Supreme Court on charges including obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for Highranking Officials. The ruling was delivered on July 9, 2026, and it is the first final verdict among the related criminal trials following the declaration of martial law. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in the case in which former President Yoon was indicted on charges including obstruction of special official duties and obstruction of the exercise of rights through abuse of authority. The court recognized the CIO's investigative authority and the legality of executing the arrest warrant, and also found guilty the procedural illegality at the time of the martial law declaration and the violation of Cabinet members' right to deliberate. With this ruling, the charges that he ordered a government statement containing false information to be distributed to foreign media the day after the martial law declaration, and that he instructed the deletion of communication records in preparation for the investigation into insurrection, have also been finalized. Yoon's side said it would challenge the ruling's unconstitutionality through constitutional court proceedings.