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SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a suspended prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol for violating the election law in a high-stakes trial that puts the main opposition party at risk of returning nearly US$30 million in election expenses.
The Seoul High Court maintained a lower court ruling, sentencing Yoon to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, for making false statements as a presidential candidate for the People Power Party (PPP) in the lead-up to his March 2022 election.
If the verdict is finalized through appeal, Yoon's presidential election will be nullified and the PPP will be required to return the 39.7 billion won ($29.6 million) it was reimbursed in campaign expenses under the election law.
After the ruling, Yoon's lawyers said they intended to appeal to the Supreme Court.
This file photo, taken Sept. 26, 2025, shows former President Yoon Suk Yeol entering a court room at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
This file photo, taken Sept. 26, 2025, shows former President Yoon Suk Yeol entering a court room at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The trial has been closely watched as it carries major implications for both Yoon and the PPP.
Under the election law, the state fully reimburses political parties for election campaign spending if their candidate wins at least 15 percent of the vote.
Parties, however, must return all reimbursed funds if the candidate receives a finalized prison sentence or a fine of more than 1 million won for election law violations. The penalties also nullify the candidate's election.
Yoon was charged with falsely claiming during a December 2021 press event that he had not introduced a lawyer to a former tax official -- a brother of Yoon's close associate from his time as a prosecutor.
Special prosecutors also accused him of lying in a January 2022 interview by claiming that a party official had introduced him to shaman Jeon Seong-bae while denying that he and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, had met Jeon together.
The appellate court found Yoon guilty on both counts of making false statements.
"As a political party-nominated candidate in a presidential election, the defendant, who can be seen as having the duty to provide information to make sound judgments, made false public statements," the court said.
"The voters' right to make a proper choice was infringed, and electoral fairness and procedural legality were undermined."
The jailed former president's latest conviction comes as he has been standing multiple criminal trials following his failed bid to impose martial law in December 2024 and his subsequent ouster from office.
A district court sentenced him to life in prison in February for leading an insurrection through his martial law bid. That trial is currently under review by an appellate court.