South Korean prosecutors seek death penalty for former president

South Korea’s special prosecutor has requested the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, accusing him of masterminding an insurrection over his brief attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.

In closing arguments at the Seoul Central District Court late on Tuesday, a prosecutor said investigators confirmed the existence of a scheme allegedly directed by Yoon and his former defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, dating back to October 2023 designed to keep Yoon in power.

"Yoon...claims to have committed emergency martial law to protect liberal democracy, but his unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law undermined the function of the National Assembly and the Election Commission... actually destroying the liberal democratic constitutional order," the prosecutor said in final arguments.

"The defendant has not sincerely regretted the crime... or apologised properly to the people."

Yoon shook his head and appeared to chuckle when he heard the sentencing request, while some of his supporters in court also laughed or even muttered expletives, prompting the judge to call for order.

While the 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 U.S. security ally and was long considered one of Asia's most resilient democracies.

Yoon, 65, has denied the charges. He was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying in court that he declared martial law to fend off the "wickedness that would ruin the nation".

He has argued it was within his powers as president to declare martial law and that the action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties' obstruction of government.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict on 19 February. The sentence prosecutors seek is not always upheld in South Korean courts.

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South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997, although death sentences remain legal. The country last handed down a death sentence in 2016.

The case has drawn comparisons with the mid-1990s trials of former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, who were convicted of insurrection but later received presidential pardons.

The office of current President Lee Jae Myung said it expects the judiciary to rule in accordance with the law and public standards.

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