DEATH PENALTY SOUGHT FOR FORMER PRESIDENT

SEOUL, OCTOBER 29 /SRNA/ - South Korean special counsel Cho Eun-suk has sought the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol ahead of the appeals court ruling on insurrection charges over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.

The Seoul High Court has yet to set a date for its ruling on Yoon's appeal against the life sentence handed down to him in February by the Central District Court.

The court found that the military and police were illegally deployed to seize parliament, arrest political opponents and establish control.

Investigators led by the special counsel appealed the court's decision, arguing that Yoon deserves the death penalty because his actions posed a serious threat to South Korea's democracy.

Analysts believe a death sentence is very unlikely, as South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997 and effectively maintains a moratorium on capital punishment amid calls for its complete abolition.

The martial law decree, which Yoon declared late in the evening of December 3, 2024, lasted only a few hours, until several lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed troops and police around the National Assembly and voted to lift the measure.

The former South Korean president was suspended from office on December 14, 2024, after being impeached by parliament, and was formally removed from office by a Constitutional Court ruling in April 2025.