South Korea's martial law crisis and President Yoon's impeachment and trial

In January 2025 Yoon defied an arrest warrant in a near six-hour standoff at his residence,^[18] until investigators returned and detained him in a massive operation.^[19][4] He denied ordering the military to drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly,^[20] and prosecutors indicted him on insurrection charges.^[21] A Seoul court canceled his arrest in March, freeing him to stand trial,^[22] and on April 4 the Constitutional Court removed him from office.^[3] A snap election followed, covered in its own arc.

Yoon was back in custody in July 2025 in an independent investigation^[23] and faced added charges, including allegations that he flew drones over North Korea to provoke tension.^[24][25] In January 2026 prosecutors sought the death penalty,^[26] and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years for insurrection-related charges.^[27] In February a court sentenced Yoon to life in prison.^[5] An appeals court gave him seven years for resisting arrest and other charges in April, which the Supreme Court upheld in July, the first of his cases to reach it,^[28][7] and in June a court sentenced him to 30 years over the drones.^[8] In late October, a special prosecutor demanded the death penalty for Yoon.^[29]