SEOUL — A special counsel team on Thursday again sought the death penalty for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, telling the Seoul High Court during his appeal trial that nothing less could answer his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
The request, made by the team led by Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk, came eight months after the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment in February. That court found he had illegally mobilised troops and police to seize the National Assembly, arrest political opponents and establish unchecked rule for a “considerable time.”
Source: Associated Press
“No reason to hesitate”
“There is no reason to hesitate to hand down the death penalty,” a member of the special counsel team told the court. “The strongest argument for objection to the death penalty is the possibility of a misjudgment just in case, but in this case, there is no room for that.” The team said the lower court's life sentence was too lenient, argued the decree had been prepared for at least eight months rather than imposed spontaneously, and said South Korea's long practice of not carrying out executions should not stop the court from imposing the sentence.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
“The commander in chief who had sworn to abide by the Constitution instead sent troops armed with guns pointing at the people,” the team member said. “This was an unforgivable crime that destroyed the constitutional order and tried to turn back the clock of the Republic of Korea by 40 years.” Yoon's martial law order, declared late on December 3, 2024 with the stated aim of eradicating anti-state forces, was lifted six hours later after lawmakers voted to overturn it.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
For the other defendants, prosecutors sought life imprisonment for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, 30 years for retired Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, 20 years for former National Police Agency chief Cho Ji-ho and 15 years for former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Kim Bong-sik.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Defence rejects the demand; no verdict date yet
Yoon's legal team told reporters the prosecutors were repeating an argument “devoid of evidence and legal logic.” Yoon, who is charged as the ringleader of an insurrection, maintains the decree was meant as a warning to the opposition-controlled parliament amid its successive impeachments of senior officials and attempts to cut the state budget, and denies intending harm or authoritarian rule.
Source: Associated Press
Under South Korean criminal law, the only punishments available for the ringleader of an insurrection are death, life imprisonment, or life imprisonment without labour. The Seoul High Court plans two additional hearings before setting a sentencing date, and Yoon's final statement is scheduled for next Thursday. Even if the court imposed death, an execution would be unlikely: Amnesty International classifies South Korea as abolitionist in practice, and no execution has been carried out since December 1997.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
What is solid
- Special counsel prosecutors asked the Seoul High Court on Thursday to impose the death penalty on Yoon Suk Yeol in his appeal trial (Yonhap, AP).
- A lower court sentenced Yoon to life in prison in February over the December 3, 2024 martial law decree, which was lifted after six hours.
- The appeals court has not set a verdict date; two more hearings are planned and Yoon's final statement is due next Thursday.
- South Korea has carried out no execution since December 1997.
What is only claimed
- Prosecutors allege the martial law decree was prepared for at least eight months; Yoon's team calls the prosecution case devoid of evidence and legal logic and says the decree was a warning to parliament, not a bid for authoritarian rule.