South Korean prosecutors demand death penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol | South Korea

South Korean prosecutors have sought the death penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol for his failed declaration of martial law in December 2024, in the first sedition trial of a Korean head of state in three decades.

Prosecutors called the case a “serious destruction of the constitutional order by anti-state forces” and told the Seoul central district court that Yoon “directly and fundamentally violated the security of the state and the survival and freedom of the people.”

Under South Korea’s criminal code, riot ringleader charges carry only three possible penalties: the death penalty, a life sentence of labor, or life imprisonment without labor. The court is expected to announce its decision on February 19.

Prosecutors demanded a life sentence, stating that former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun “acted as one” with Yoon throughout the conspiracy.

On the night of December 3, 2024, Yoon deployed troops to the national assembly and allegedly ordered to prevent lawmakers from voting to lift the declaration of martial law.

The six-hour crisis ended when 190 lawmakers broke through military cordons to take an urgent decision, forcing Yoon to back down. Parliament impeached him on December 14, and the constitutional court dismissed him in April 2025.

Early elections brought Yoon’s rival Lee Jae Myung to power.

Prosecutors told the court that Yoon began planning the operation before October 2023, with the aim of “monopolizing power through long-term management” and strategically placing military personnel in key positions before the declaration.

According to closing arguments, the plans documented in notebooks and cellphone notes included torturing election officials into confessing to trumped-up election fraud and shutting off power and water to critical media outlets.

“If only one [cabinet member] had informed the outside world…imposition of martial law would be realistically impossible,” he said, and prosecutors condemned senior officials who “chose loyalty to Yoon and greed for power sharing,” threatening people’s lives and freedoms.

They cited Yoon’s lack of remorse as a major aggravating factor, noting that he never properly apologized and instead blamed the then-opposition while inciting supporters. Some of these supporters stormed the courthouse in violent protests following his arrest.

They said Yoon, a former attorney general, was fully aware that the declaration was unconstitutional.

In the statement made by the Presidency, it was stated that the judiciary will make decisions in accordance with the laws and principles and in line with the expectations of the public.

The case marks the first insurrection-related indictment against a former president since military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo were tried in 1996 for their roles in the 1979 coup and subsequent massacre in Gwangju.

Prosecutors later requested the death penalty for Chun and life imprisonment for Roh. Both were convicted, but their sentences were later commuted and they were eventually pardoned.

South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997 and is classified by human rights groups as a “de facto abolitionist” state.

Yoon was first arrested in January 2025, making him the first Korean president to be detained. He was briefly released in March after the court annulled his detention, but was rearrested in July and has been detained since then.

The sedition case represents just one piece of an unprecedented legal assault.

Three simultaneous special prosecutor investigations into Yoon and his wife and an alleged cover-up of a sailor’s death have implicated more than 120 people in political and military circles.

Yoon faces eight separate criminal cases covering charges ranging from abuse of power to election law violations.

Beyond the sedition charge, he is accused of ordering a drone infiltration into Pyongyang’s airspace in late 2024 to provoke North Korea and create a pretext for martial law.

His wife, Kim Keon Hee, will face her own reckoning on January 28 when another Seoul court will rule on stock market manipulation and bribery charges, with the prosecution seeking a 15-year prison sentence.

Yoon’s first ruling came on January 16 in the obstruction of arrest case, in which prosecutors sought a 10-year prison sentence.