The Seoul Central District Court on Friday ruled that former President Yoon Suk Yeol pay a total of 10.5 million won ($7,597) combined to 105 citizens for causing them to suffer emotional distress due to the imposition of martial law.
The ruling in the civil case was in favor of 105 citizens who filed a suit against Yoon, demanding that former president pay 100,000 won ($75.30) in compensation per person.
“It is clear that the plaintiffs, who are members of the public, suffered pain expressed through fear, anxiety, despair and humiliation,” said the court Friday.
The court fully accepted the plaintiffs’ claims that the causes of their emotional distress are closely related with the martial law declaration and Yoon’s subsequent measures after the martial law imposition can be judged as “intentional torts to person” as defined in Article 750 of the Civil Act.
“The defendant must compensate the plaintiffs for the psychological damage and an amount of 100,000 won per person is reasonably justified,” said the court, adding that Yoon would also be responsible for all legal expenses.
It was not the first time that citizens had sought compensation over a political crisis caused by a former president. A case concerning former President Park Geun-hye’s abuse of power scandal in 2017 was dismissed by the top court in 2020.
Lawyers in this case argued that their suit was different from the 2020 case, as the former President Yoon committed an unconstitutional act of insurrection.
“The abuse of power under Park Geun-hye was a matter of personal misconduct. But former President Yoon’s illegal actions went beyond mere illegality. They were unconstitutional and he was even impeached by the Constitutional Court. That’s why this case must be viewed differently,” said the legal representatives after a pretrial hearing on June 27.
The Supreme Court of Korea previously ruled that the state was liable to compensate victims who had been arrested, punished or detained under the former President Park Chung-hee’s emergency decree in 1975.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
