# President Yoon Removed from Office {South Korea} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598 "2025-04-04T04:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/21 "2026-02-18T15:37:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Boy, we could sure use some Article 87 around here. Do you not think it has a bit of a “when you strike at a king, you must kill him” implication? One can imagine plenty of good reasons for aiming at excluding the authority or challenging the constitutional order of a (corrupt) state. South Korea itself does not exactly lack a quite recent history of dictatorship and military coups. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/22 "2026-02-18T15:45:08Z")
There certainly can be legit reasons to commit an insurrection. But my complaint is when somebody unquestionably commits an insurrection for a fundamentally wrong and corrupt reason and then is not charged, tried, nor convicted of the same. What SK is doing right is holding powerful insurrecting wannabe dictators to account for their misdeeds. What we did is shove it under the rug then re-elect the SOB. With the completely predictable outcome that we’re only starting to experience the least bad aspects of. And they’re already plenty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/23 "2026-02-18T18:45:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What we did is shove it under the rug then re-elect the SOB. To be achingly fair, Yoon published a decree, beyond plausible deniability. Our insurrector (not a word, apparently) used the godfather approach, allowing grunts and nods and lack of appropriate action to let events take their course. Not a justification or even an excuse, just a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/24 "2026-02-19T22:12:18Z")
[LIFE!](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/politics/20260219/ex-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-leading-insurrection) > [@](#): > > Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after a court found him guilty of leading an insurrection linked to his martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024. > > The court concluded that his actions met the legal definition of insurrection but declined to impose the death sentence despite the special counsel’s earlier request for capital punishment. > > Under Korean criminal law, the offense of leading an insurrection carries only three possible penalties: death, life imprisonment with labor or life imprisonment without labor. That’s quite the _Monty Hall_ problem, isn’t it? Getting back to the story, the court’s decision centered on this. > [@](#): > > “The core factual element of this case is that troops were sent to the National Assembly,” the court said, emphasizing that the act itself represented the use of force against a constitutional body. > > “It cannot be ruled out that Yoon aimed to paralyze the Assembly for a considerable period of time by sending troops to the Assembly to block it and arresting major politicians,” it said. And this is something the SCOTUS should’ve already known and applied in regard to a certain incident about five years ago. > [@](#): > > The judges further noted that even a sitting president can face insurrection charges if it is proven that there was intent to disrupt the constitutional order. So, why did he not get the death penalty? (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > But the court handed down a a life sentence rather than the death penalty, saying, “The plan does not appear to have been prepared elaborately, and **direct physical violence was largely absent.” It noted that the defendant had no prior criminal record.** That’s another lesson for a certain foreign governmental body, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/25 "2026-02-19T22:22:09Z")
Let’s hope he’s not pardoned by a future president. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/26 "2026-04-29T21:25:59Z")
[On a related note, Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, off to the Big House for four years.](https://www.aol.com/articles/south-korea-appeals-court-sentences-073924438.html) > [@](#): > > SEOUL, April 28 (Reuters) - South Korea’s former First Lady Kim Keon Hee was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in prison for ‌stock manipulation and bribery, after an appeals court increased her earlier sentence. > > The ‌appeals court said that Kim had participated in manipulating the price of a thinly traded Korean stock ​with multiple traders, reversing a lower court’s ruling that acquitted Kim of the charge. > > It also found that Kim accepted two Chanel bags and a Graff necklace, worth around 80 million won ($54,257) in total, from the Unification Church while aware the church expected political favours ‌for its overseas business. > > “Kim exerted ⁠her influence as first lady and committed the bribery,” the lead judge said. “She damaged public trust in government transparency and caused a ⁠rift in public opinion over national affairs.” > > The court also fined Kim 70 million won and ordered the confiscation of the necklace. > > Kim, the wife of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, was ​sentenced ​to 20 months in the first ruling in ​January for bribery, while a ‌court cleared her of other charges. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598/27 "2026-06-26T13:30:47Z")
Apparently, she did a bit more than that: > **[Ex-First Lady Jailed Over Bribes From Robot Dog Maker](https://www.newser.com/story/391767/south-koreas-ex-first-lady-sentenced-in-bribery-case.html)** > > Wife of ousted South Korean leader gets another 7 years > South Korea’s former first lady just picked up a second prison term—and this one involves a robot dog deal. A Seoul court on Friday sentenced Kim Keon Hee, wife of ousted ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, to seven years in prison for taking luxury gifts in return for political favors. Judges found she accepted items including a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a Tiffany brooch, Graff earrings, a gold turtle, a Dior handbag, a Vacheron Constantin watch, and an expensive painting, reports Reuters. In return, she allegedly used her influence to help secure government and parliamentary posts and other benefits. Come on, America!! You can do it!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-yoon-removed-from-office-south-korea/1016598.md?page=1)