Appeals court upholds Yoon election law conviction in Seoul

The Seoul High Court has upheld former president Yoon Suk Yeol's conviction for publishing false facts as a presidential candidate, keeping his sentence at one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, and moving his 2022 election one step closer to being voided.

Why it matters: If the Supreme Court finalises the sentence, Yoon's election is invalidated under the election law and the opposition People Power Party must return 39.7 billion won, about $29.6 million, in reimbursed campaign costs.

Data as of Yonhap report of November 4, 2026, in Korean, read in full in this run and translated, corroborated by the Korea JoongAng Daily's English report of the same ruling read in full in this run. Yoon's lawyers said after the ruling that they will appeal to the Supreme Court, which has not yet ruled; the conviction is not final. Developing item.

The Seoul High Court on Wednesday dismissed Yoon Suk Yeol’s appeal and found him guilty on both counts of violating the Public Official Election Act, Yonhap reported. The court kept the first trial sentence of one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for two false statements made during the 2022 campaign: his denial at a December 2021 Kwanhun Club debate that he had introduced a lawyer to former tax office chief Yoon Woo-jin, and his January 2022 statement that he had never met the shaman Jeon Seong-bae together with his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

Under the election law, a sentence at or above the threshold for an election crime, once finalised, invalidates the election, and the candidate’s party must return the campaign costs the state reimbursed. For the People Power Party that amount is 39.7 billion won, about $29.6 million. Yoon’s legal team said it will appeal to the Supreme Court, and he has seven days to file.

Appeals court upholds Yoon election law conviction in Seoul

Sources