Prosecutor seeks death penalty for ex-President Yoon over martial law debacle

Yoon Suk Yeol [AP Photo]

A South Korean special prosecutor on Thursday demanded the death penalty for ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, ahead of an appeals court verdict on rebellion charges over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.

The Seoul High Court has yet to set a date for a verdict on Yoon’s appeal of a life sentence handed down in February by the Seoul Central District Court. The court found that he illegally mobilized troops and police to seize the legislature, arrest political opponents and establish unchecked rule for a “considerable time.”

Investigators led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk also appealed the ruling, arguing Yoon deserves the death penalty because his actions posed a grave threat to the country’s democracy. An execution would be unlikely. South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997, effectively maintaining a moratorium on capital punishment following calls for its abolition.

During the hearing at the high court, Cho’s team said only the death penalty could fully hold Yoon accountable for a crime as serious as orchestrating a rebellion and that the country’s long-standing pause on executions should not prevent courts from imposing death sentences.

Yoon’s legal team told reporters that prosecutors were repeating an argument “devoid of evidence and legal logic” and claimed that Yoon’s martial law was intended to raise public awareness about what he called attempts by the opposition-led legislature to paralyze state affairs. It said Yoon had no intention of causing harm or establishing authoritarian rule.

Yoon’s martial law decree, announced late at night on Dec. 3, 2024, lasted only hours until a quorum of lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and police at the National Assembly and voted to overturn it, forcing his Cabinet to lift the measure.

Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025. He was re-arrested in July 2025 and has faced multiple criminal trials over the martial law debacle and other allegations, with the rebellion charge carrying the heaviest punishment.

In addition to appealing his life sentence for rebellion, Yoon has also appealed a 30-year prison term in a case accusing him of ordering drone flights in 2024 to deliberately heighten tensions with North Korea and create a pretext for martial law at home. Yoon’s lawyers said the drone flights were a response to North Korea flying thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South. KIM TONG-HYUNG, SEOUL, MDT/AP