Separately, 64-year-old Yoon faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges. The embattled leader became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested on Jan 15 but was released in March after a court cancelled his arrest warrant.
The crisis was triggered by Yoon’s Dec 3 declaration of martial law, which he has said was needed to root out “anti-state” elements and the opposition Democratic Party’s alleged abuse of its parliamentary majority that he said was destroying the country.
Yoon lifted the decree six hours later after lawmakers defied efforts by the security forces to seal off parliament and voted to reject it. Yoon has said he never intended to fully impose emergency military rule and tried to downplay the fallout, saying nobody was hurt.
Months of protests have followed, and it remained unclear if the political chaos sparked by Yoon’s martial law declaration would now be eased by the court ruling.
Source: CNA
