Power and Water Cutoffs at Media Outlets: First Trial Verdict for Lee Sang-min Today...Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Prison Term
- Input
- 2026-02-12 08:03:05
- Updated
- 2026-02-12 08:03:05
[Financial News] The first-instance verdict for former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, who has been indicted on charges of participating in an insurrection by relaying orders to cut off power and water to media outlets during the December 3 emergency martial law, will be handed down on the 12th.
Criminal Division 32 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Ryu Kyung-jin, will hold a sentencing hearing at 2 p.m. the same day in Lee’s case on charges including engaging in key duties related to insurrection. The sentencing will be broadcast live by television networks.
As minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), the government body in charge of martial law in peacetime, Lee was arrested and indicted on August 19 last year. He is accused of effectively condoning former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s unlawful declaration of martial law and of sequentially participating in the insurrection by relaying orders to the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) and the National Fire Agency (NFA) to cut off power and water to media outlets.
He also faces a perjury charge for testifying during the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial of former President Yoon in February last year that he had never issued power or water cutoff orders and had never received such instructions from the president.
At the final hearing last month, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Insurrection argued, "The defendant’s role in former President Yoon’s coup plan was extremely important," and requested a 15-year prison sentence for Lee.
Lee denies the charges, insisting that he neither discussed nor conspired in advance regarding the martial law. He maintains that he never received documents ordering power or water cutoffs and never issued such instructions himself. He also argues that the December 3 emergency martial law cannot be regarded as an insurrection.
jjw@fnnews.com Reporter Jeong Ji-woo Reporter