A Seoul court on Monday sentenced former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison for violating political funding laws, the latest in a cascade of convictions that have defined his post-presidency. The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Yoon illegally received 14 rounds of opinion polling worth 270 million won ($179,800) from political broker Myung Tae-kyun between 2021 and 2022, and later used his influence to secure a parliamentary nomination for a candidate backed by Myung as repayment. The verdict, which can be appealed, adds to a life sentence Yoon is already serving for masterminding an insurrection through his short-lived 2024 martial law declaration.

Yoon denied the charges, maintaining that he neither requested the polls nor promised any quid pro quo. The court, however, found a direct exchange, stating that his conduct “significantly intensified public distrust in politics and undermined the people’s expectations for the sound development of democratic governance.” The ruling diverged from earlier decisions involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee, who was twice acquitted in the same polling case on the grounds that no reciprocal arrangement had been proven. Myung Tae-kyun was also convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The two-year term compounds an already extensive legal burden for the 65-year-old former leader. In February, a court handed him a life sentence for insurrection tied to the December 2024 martial law order, which he is appealing. Last week, the Supreme Court finalised a seven-year prison sentence for obstructing authorities’ attempt to arrest him. Yoon is now a defendant in at least eight separate cases. His wife, Kim Keon Hee, is serving a seven-year term for bribery and a four-year term for stock manipulation and graft, and she awaits a Supreme Court ruling on the polling case scheduled for Thursday.

Viewed from Moscow, state media framed the verdict as part of a broader global pattern of legal action against former high officials, drawing explicit parallels to the prosecution of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan. In South Korea, the ruling reinforces a decades-long tradition of post-tenure criminal proceedings against former presidents, a cycle that analysts in Seoul note has both reflected and deepened public disillusionment with the political class. The immediate next steps centre on Yoon’s expected appeal of the two-year sentence and the Supreme Court’s imminent decision on Kim’s involvement in the same polling scandal.