Case Explained: Ex-President Yoon’s appellate trial for obstruction of justice to begin next week – Legal Perspective

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s appellate trial on obstruction of justice and other charges will begin next week, legal sources said Wednesday.

The first hearing has been scheduled for 2 p.m. next Wednesday at the Seoul High Court, with proceedings led by Criminal Division 1 — one of two divisions recently designated to handle cases related to charges of insurrection, treason and rebellion.

Yoon was sentenced by a lower court last month to five years in prison on charges of obstructing investigators’ attempt to detain him last year following his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

He was also found guilty of violating the rights of Cabinet members who were not called to a meeting to review his martial law plan, and drafting and later destroying a revised proclamation after the decree was lifted.

The former president is standing a total of eight trials in connection with the martial law attempt, his wife’s alleged corruption and the 2023 death of a Marine.

In one of them, he was sentenced to life imprisonment last week for leading an insurrection through his declaration of martial law.