South Korea Special Counsel Seeks Death Penalty for Yoon Suk Yeol Again in Insurrection Appeal
Seoul — A South Korean special counsel team asked an appeals court on Thursday, October 29, to sentence former President Yoon Suk Yeol to death for leading an insurrection over his December 2024 martial law declaration, arguing that the life sentence he received at his first trial was too lenient, Yonhap News Agency reported. It was the second time prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Yoon, after first doing so in January.
"There is no reason to hesitate in seeking the death penalty," the special counsel team, led by Cho Eun-suk, told the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 12-1 during closing arguments in the appeal. Prosecutors characterized the December 3, 2024 martial law decree not as an impulsive "warning" but as a long-planned self-coup aimed at monopolizing power, and said the first trial had taken too narrow a view of how long the plot was prepared and what its purpose was.
Yoon declared martial law on the night of December 3, 2024, sending troops and police into the National Assembly; he was impeached by parliament and removed from office. On January 13, the special counsel sought the death penalty at his first trial, but on February 19 the Seoul Central District Court convicted him of leading an insurrection and sentenced him to life in prison. Under South Korean law, the leader of an insurrection faces only three possible punishments: death, life imprisonment, or life imprisonment without labor.
Prosecutors also asked the court to sentence former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to life in prison, former intelligence commander Noh Sang-won to 30 years, former national police chief Cho Ji-ho to 20 years, former Seoul police chief Kim Bong-sik to 15 years, and former National Assembly security chief Mok Hyun-tae to 12 years. Yoon's defense maintains the decree was meant only as a warning to the opposition-led legislature.
The appeal's closing proceedings continue on November 3 with arguments for Kim Yong-hyun and on November 5 with the defense's final arguments and Yoon's own final statement, after which the court will set a date for its ruling. South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997. Yoon also faces a ruling on November 4 in a separate election-law appeal.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：韩国前总统尹锡悦官方肖像。照片 CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official portrait of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
