▲ Former President Yoon Suk Yeol enters a courtroom at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, in this file photo from Sept. 26, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(3rd LD) ex-president-trial

(3rd LD) Court acquits ex-President Yoon of perjury over testimony at ex-PM's trial

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SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Thursday acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol of perjury over allegations that he gave false testimony during former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's insurrection trial.

The jailed former president was indicted on charges of giving a false impression during Han's trial last year that the Cabinet meeting he convened shortly before declaring martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, was planned even before Han suggested it.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that it was difficult to recognize Yoon's testimony at the trial as contrary to his own memory, adding there was a "high" possibility that he may have had plans to convene the Cabinet meeting regardless of Han's proposal.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team had requested the court sentence Yoon to two years in prison over the charge.

Following the verdict, a lawyer for the former president thanked the court in a Facebook post, while the special counsel team said it would decide whether to appeal after reviewing the ruling.

During Han's trial in November, Yoon was asked as a witness whether the then prime minister had proposed convening a Cabinet meeting to make the martial law declaration appear procedurally lawful.

Yoon protested that the question was loaded and retorted, "Cabinet members are not dolls who come to create an outward appearance."

The special counsel team indicted the former president on charges of perjury in December, arguing that he initially had no plans to hold a Cabinet meeting but changed his mind after Han's proposal.

The team had argued that Yoon had only called in additional Cabinet members, including then Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, to meet the quorum for a Cabinet meeting following Han's suggestion.

The court, however, said that Yoon appeared to have planned to meet the Cabinet members in phases, noting that documents had been prepared in advance for Choi.

"It is difficult to view the testimony as contrary to his memory of the facts," the court said. "(It) is not subject to a perjury charge."

Yoon, who has been held in custody since July, is standing a total of eight trials in connection with his failed martial law bid, corruption allegations involving his wife and the 2023 death of a Marine.

In the first-instance trial of the main case, he was sentenced in February to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through the martial law attempt.

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