Overview
- Seoul Central District Court sentenced former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min to seven years for aiding an insurrection and committing perjury after judges found he relayed orders to cut utilities to critical media outlets.
- The Defense Ministry’s probe identified roughly 180 officers directly or indirectly involved, saying about 1,600 personnel were mobilized that night, with many sent to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission.
- Investigators said the Defense Intelligence Command plotted to seize the election watchdog and that counterintelligence units reviewed detention facilities and operated arrest teams; three generals and five colonels have been indicted.
- A government task force labeled the effort an “insurrection from above,” citing instructions from the highest level and attempts to sustain martial law after lawmakers voted to lift it, with dozens of disciplinary requests and case referrals.
- Military discipline accelerated with two senior Joint Chiefs of Staff officers removed, the Ground Operations Commander suspended, and the former drone command chief ousted over a suspected October 2024 drone dispatch linked to the plot; Yoon’s verdict will be broadcast live at 3 p.m. on Feb. 19 as prosecutors seek the death penalty.