South Korea‘s ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a possible execution after prosecutors demanded the death penalty for his declaration of martial law.
Yoon’s criminal trial for insurrection, abuse of power, and other offences linked to the 2024 declaration drew to a close on January 13 after 12 hours of proceedings.
In closing remarks, prosecutors accused him of being the ringleader of an ‘insurrection’ motivated by a ‘lust for power aimed at dictatorship and long-term rule’.
They accused Yoon, 65, of showing ‘no remorse’ for actions that threatened ‘constitutional order and democracy’.
‘The greatest victims of the insurrection in this case are the people of this country,’ they said. ‘There are no mitigating circumstances to be considered in sentencing, and instead a severe punishment must be imposed.’
Yoon, who is accused of masterminding the insurrection, could now face the death penalty or life in prison under South Korean law if found guilty.
South Korea has not executed a death-row inmate since 1997, although it has not abolished the death penalty.
Yoon’s defence team, meanwhile, has made theatrical arguments in a bid to help him and his alleged accomplices.
South Korea’s ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a possible execution after prosecutors demanded the death penalty for his declaration of martial law
Soldiers advance to the main building of the National Assembly after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in Seoul, South Korea, December 3, 2024
On January 13, they compared the disgraced former leader to great historical figures, including Italian scholars Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno, who were wrongfully condemned.
‘The majority does not always reveal the truth,’ they said.
Prosecutors also asked that former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Proceedings were expected to wrap up on January 9, but were postponed after 15 hours of deliberation – it took eight hours to examine evidence alone for Kim.
Kim’s lawyer insisted ‘a short tongue’ was preventing him from reading more quickly.
Prosecutors have alleged that Yoon and then-defence minister Kim Yong-hyun began devising a scheme as far back as October 2023 to suspend parliament and assume legislative powers.
Prosecutors accuse Yoon of seeking to brand his political opponents – including then-opposition leader Lee Jae Myung – as ‘anti-state forces’ and to detain them.
They have said Yoon and Kim also tried to manufacture a pretext for martial law by escalating tensions with North Korea through a covert drone operation.
While the botched bid to impose martial law lasted only about six hours, it sent shockwaves through South Korea, which is Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a key US security ally, and was long considered one of Asia’s most resilient democracies.
Yoon has denied the charges. The conservative former career prosecutor has argued he had the powers as president to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government.
The current trial features eight defendants seen as ringleaders of the martial law bid, including Yoon and Kim.
If found guilty, Yoon will become the third South Korean president convicted for insurrection, alongside two military leaders in connection with a 1979 coup.
Even if he is convicted and sentenced to death, it is highly unlikely that it would be carried out, as South Korea has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 1997.
Prosecutors are also seeking a 10-year prison term for Yoon on obstruction of justice charges, with a Seoul court expected to deliver a verdict in that case in February.
And he faces a trial on charges of aiding the enemy over allegations he ordered drone flights over North Korea to strengthen his effort to declare martial law.