In brief
On Thursday, Special Counsel Cho Eun‑suk’s team once again called for the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk‑yeol in an appellate trial over an insurrection linked to his brief December 2024 martial‑law declaration. The request comes eight months after a lower court sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment, and the Seoul High Court will hold two more hearings before setting a final sentence. Yoon, who was removed from office after a 2025 Constitutional Court ruling, remains tied to eight separate criminal trials.
On Thursday, prosecutors led by Special Counsel Cho Eun‑suk asked the Seoul High Court in Seoul to sentence former President Yoon Suk‑yeol to death for the insurrection that stemmed from his 2024 declaration of martial law, following a life‑imprisonment judgment in February.
The request was tabled during appellate proceedings in the capital’s high court, eight months after Yoon was convicted of staging a riot through his brief martial‑law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024. The new demand follows the prosecutor team’s earlier plea for the death penalty, which was made in January of this year.
During the six hours that Yoon maintained the emergency martial law, troops were deployed to the National Assembly compound—a move the February trial ruled was an attempt to paralyze parliament and arrest key politicians. The order was revoked hours later by a vote of the opposition‑controlled assembly, after which Yoon’s skull‑shaking confrontation with constitutional authority came under scrutiny.
“There is no reason to hesitate to hand down the death penalty,” a member of the prosecutor team said.
“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.”
Yoon’s defense has maintained that the emergency declaration was a warning to the parliament, which had impeached senior officials and cut the state budget after his inauguration. Prosecutors argue that the declaration was unconstitutional, lacking war or a comparable emergency, and that the life sentence handed down by the lower court was too lenient for the gravity of the crime.
According to criminal law, a ringleader of an insurrection may receive only the death penalty or life imprisonment. The lower court rendered a life sentence in February, but the higher court is again reviewing the case to decide whether the maximum penalty should apply.
South Korea’s stance on capital punishment has drawn international attention. Amnesty International notes that although the capital offense exists on paper, the country has not executed anyone since December 1997, classifying it as a “death‑penalty abolitionist in practice.”
Yoon’s appeal is part of a larger judicial saga—he faces eight trials related to the martial‑law bid, allegations of corruption involving his wife, and the 2023 death of a marine officer. His removal from office came earlier in April 2025 after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, a decision that triggered a snap presidential election.
The Seoul High Court will hold two additional hearings before setting a sentencing date. Yoon is scheduled to deliver a final statement next Thursday in the courtroom.
Both the prosecution and defense are intensifying arguments as the court prepares to decide whether the death penalty will once again be applied to a sitting president’s former monarch, a decision that will reverberate across South Korea and beyond.
