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South Korea’s Kim Yong-hyun Gets Jailed
(MENAFN) South Korea’s ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has received a three-year prison sentence after being found guilty of misleading the Presidential Security Service into providing a secure mobile phone tied to former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law, local media reported on Tuesday.
The Seoul Central District Court delivered the ruling after determining that Kim committed obstruction of official duties through deception when he obtained a secure phone on Dec. 2, 2024—just one day before the martial law announcement—according to a news agency.
Investigators noted that the device was subsequently handed over to Noh Sang-won, a former military intelligence commander who had become a civilian official and was involved in a probe team looking into alleged election fraud.
The court further stated that the phone was later utilized in operations connected to the enforcement framework of martial law established under Yoon’s decree.
Kim was also found guilty of encouraging the destruction of evidence after instructing an aide to discard documents related to the martial law period once the National Assembly revoked the decree on Dec. 5, 2024.
Although prosecutors pushed for a five-year prison term, the court reduced the sentence, taking into account Kim’s clean criminal record as a mitigating circumstance.
Kim’s prosecution marked the first indictment brought by the investigative team formed last June to examine allegations surrounding Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law.
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