South Korean prosecutors demand demise penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol

[ad_1] South Korean prosecutors have demanded the demise penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, within the first revolt trial of a Korean head of state in three many years.

Prosecutors characterised the case because the “critical destruction of constitutional order by anti-state forces”, telling Seoul central district courtroom that Yoon had “instantly and essentially infringed upon the security of the state and the survival and freedom of the folks”.

Beneath South Korea’s prison code, revolt ringleader expenses carry simply three potential sentences: the demise penalty, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment with out labour. A verdict is predicted in mid-February.

Yoon Suk Yeol was formally faraway from workplace in April. {Photograph}: Ahn Younger-joon/AP Prosecutors demanded life imprisonment with labour for the previous defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, describing him as having “moved as one physique” with Yoon all through the conspiracy.

Yoon deployed troops to the nationwide meeting on the night time of three December 2024, allegedly ordering them to prevent lawmakers from voting to raise his martial legislation declaration.

The six-hour disaster ended when 190 MPs broke by way of army cordons to cross an emergency decision, forcing Yoon to again down. Parliament impeached him on 14 December, and the constitutional courtroom removed him from workplace in April 2025.

A snap election introduced Yoon’s rival, Lee Jae Myung, to power .

Prosecutors advised the courtroom Yoon started planning the operation earlier than October 2023 to “monopolise energy by way of long-term rule”, strategically putting army personnel in key positions earlier than the declaration.

In line with their closing arguments the plans, documented in notebooks and cell phone memos, included making ready to torture election officers into confessing to fabricated election fraud, and slicing energy and water to crucial media retailers.

“If only one [cabinet member] had knowledgeable the skin world … the implementation of martial legislation would have been realistically not possible,” prosecutors mentioned, condemning senior officers who “selected loyalty to Yoon and greed for power-sharing”, threatening folks’s lives and freedom.

They cited Yoon’s full lack of regret as a key aggravating issue, noting he has by no means correctly apologised and as an alternative blames the then-opposition whereas inciting supporters. A few of these supporters stormed a courthouse in violent protests following his arrest.

Supporters of Yoon Suk Yeol have protested exterior his trial. {Photograph}: Lee Jin-man/AP Yoon, a former prosecutor common, was absolutely conscious the declaration was unconstitutional, they mentioned.

In a press release, the presidential workplace mentioned the judiciary would ship a verdict in accordance with legal guidelines and rules, and in keeping with the general public’s expectations.

The case marks the primary insurrection-related expenses in opposition to a former president for the reason that 1996 trial of army dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo for his or her roles within the 1979 coup and subsequent massacre in Gwangju .

Prosecutors then demanded demise for Chun and life imprisonment for Roh. Each have been convicted, although their sentences have been later decreased and so they have been in the end pardoned.

South Korea has not executed anybody since 1997 and is assessed as a “de facto abolitionist” state by human rights teams.

Yoon was first arrested in January 2025 , making him the primary sitting Korean president to be taken into custody. He was briefly released in March after a courtroom cancelled his detention, however was re-arrested in July and has been held since.

The revolt case represents only one piece of an unprecedented authorized onslaught.

Three concurrent particular prosecutor probes into Yoon, his spouse, and the alleged cover-up of a marine’s death have indicted greater than 120 folks throughout the political and army institution.

Yoon faces eight separate prison trials spanning expenses from abuse of energy to election legislation violations.

Past the revolt cost, he's accused of ordering drone infiltrations into Pyongyang airspace in late 2024 to impress North Korea and create a pretext for martial legislation.

His spouse, Kim Keon Hee, faces her own reckoning on 28 January, when one other Seoul courtroom will rule on inventory manipulation and bribery charges carrying a prosecutorial demand of 15 years imprisonment.