A South Korean court on Monday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison for illegally receiving manipulated opinion polls for free from a political broker. The court found that Yoon provided political favors in return for the polls, which potentially aided his 2022 presidential bid.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Yoon violated the country’s political funding law. The political broker, Myung Tae-kyun, received a 1 1/2-year prison sentence for the same charge. Myung was accused of conducting 14 free opinion polls for Yoon between June and October 2021, using manipulated data to help Yoon secure his party's nomination before his election win in March 2022.
The court stated that Yoon exerted undue influence on his party to fulfill Myung’s request for a specific candidate to be the conservative People Power Party nominee in a 2022 legislative by-election, in exchange for the manipulated polls.
Yoon has appealed some convictions, including a February life sentence related to rebellion charges stemming from a December 2024 martial law declaration. His lawyers announced they would appeal Monday’s ruling, citing insufficient evidence.
The former president was impeached by the liberal-led legislature in December 2024, following the brief martial law imposition that caused a significant political crisis. Lawmakers repealed the measure, forcing Yoon's Cabinet to lift it. He was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court. After being released from custody earlier in 2025, he was re-arrested in July of that year and has since faced multiple criminal trials while detained.