Do we like Han Duck-soo?
Our score: 3 out of 10. A conviction upheld on appeal for a key role in the insurrection and an admitted perjury, set against five decades of public service and nothing found against any group.
Han is the ultimate career bureaucrat. Born in Jeonju in 1946, he passed the civil service exam in 1970, started as a customs officer and ended up with a Harvard economics PhD. He was trade minister under Kim Dae-jung, helped negotiate the Korea-US free trade deal under Roh Moo-hyun, became prime minister in 2007, then ambassador to Washington. Yoon Suk Yeol brought him back as PM in 2022, and he became the longest-serving PM since 1987.
Then came December 2024. After Yoon was impeached over his martial law declaration, Han became acting president. In January 2026 the Seoul Central District Court convicted him of playing a key role in the insurrection, plus perjury and falsifying an official document, and gave him 23 years, well above the 15 prosecutors sought. The judge said he “disregarded his duty and responsibility as prime minister until the very end”. He denied the main charges.
On appeal in May 2026 the Seoul High Court cut the term to 15 years but kept the insurrection conviction. It found he gave the decree an appearance of legitimacy by proposing a Cabinet meeting, and criticised him for repeatedly claiming memory lapses. It weighed his more than 50 years of public service and found little evidence he helped plan or lead the insurrection. His lawyers called the ruling “unacceptable” and took it to the Supreme Court.
His own account is a mix of defence and mea culpa. He told the court he “tried his best” to stop the martial law plan, and said he felt a “political and historical responsibility” for failing to stop it. He also admitted to lying at the Constitutional Court, saying “I committed perjury.” That is the gap between what he says he did and what two courts found.
On the harm check, honestly, the record is thin. We searched for anything he has said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the climate and found nothing of his own. What is on file is political: in April 2025, as acting president, he appointed a Constitutional Court justice and nominated two more, which drew objections, and in January 2024 he vowed to push labour, education and pension reform. A court found the martial law decree unconstitutional and unlawful, and he stands convicted of helping it along. His 2025 presidential bid pledged constitutional reform and support for vulnerable groups.
The good stuff is real but dry: more than 50 years in public service and a central part in the Korea-US trade deal. The court itself weighed that long career when it cut his sentence. We found no charity work or personal kindnesses reported, so that is the whole list.