South Korea | Prosecutor demands death penalty for former President Yoon Suk-yeol

SEOUL, South Korea — Special prosecutors on Tuesday asked a court to sentence former President Yoon Suk Yeol to death, labeling his short-lived 2024 martial law declaration an "act of insurrection" that brought the nation to the brink of constitutional collapse.

The demand was made during closing arguments at the Seoul Central District Court, marking a dramatic climax to a trial that has gripped the country for months. Yoon, who was removed from office following the events of Dec. 3, 2024, faces charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power.

"The declaration of martial law fundamentally undermined national security and the survival of the people by abandoning the constitutional duty to safeguard the Constitution," the special counsel team, led by Cho Eun-seok, told the court.

Prosecutors argued that the mobilization of armed troops to surround the National Assembly was not a legitimate exercise of presidential power but an "anti-state act" designed to subvert the democratic process.

The sentencing request comes 406 days after the late-night decree that saw paratroopers enter the halls of parliament. The order was rescinded hours later after lawmakers defied the military presence to vote down the measure, triggering a massive wave of protests and Yoon’s eventual impeachment.

South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997, though the death penalty remains on the books. Legal experts suggest that while the court may find Yoon guilty of insurrection, a life sentence is a more statistically likely outcome given the country’s de facto moratorium on capital punishment.

Yoon’s defense team has consistently maintained that the president acted within his rights to protect the state from political paralysis, denying that there was any intent to permanently overthrow the constitutional order.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict and sentence in the coming weeks.

Source: DPN, Agencies, AI, January 13, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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