The Seoul High Court on Tuesday sentenced former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min to nine years in prison, two years longer than the lower court’s sentence.
He was found guilty of perjury and performing a key role in an insurrection by aiding former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration.
“The defendant asked the fire chief to cooperate in cutting off water and electricity, despite knowing that the martial law declaration was illegal and unconstitutional,” the appellate court said in its ruling. “This constitutes performing a key role in an insurrection.”
Lee was charged with receiving and relaying Yoon’s instructions to cut electricity and water supplies to media outlets Yoon had accused of being critical of his administration, including the Hankyoreh, Kyunghyang Shinmun, MBC and JTBC. Lee was also charged with perjury for allegedly lying during Yoon’s 2025 impeachment trial.
The court found Lee guilty of all but one of the perjury charges against him.
However, as in the lower court ruling, the appellate court acquitted him of abuse of authority charges. Prosecutors had accused Lee of unlawfully ordering the fire chief to prepare an immediate response to police requests related to cutting water and electricity to media outlets.
The court said it was difficult to conclude whether fire stations had been placed on standby to respond immediately to such requests, or whether the fire chief had ordered the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters to cooperate in cutting off water and electricity.
“As the minister of interior and safety, the defendant was in a position to oversee public safety and disaster management,” the court said.
“Despite this responsibility, he committed a crime that served as an important means of justifying and sustaining the unlawful martial law declaration. Even during the trial, he ignored his legal responsibility and was preoccupied with evading accountability,” it added.
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