In brief
On Thursday, prosecutors in Seoul filed a new death‑penalty request against former President Yoon Suk‑yeol during his appellate trial for insurrection stemming from a 2024 martial‑law declaration. Yoon’s earlier life‑sentence has been deemed too lenient by the special counsel team, while the defense argues the move was a warning to an opposition‑controlled parliament. The Seoul High Court will conduct two further hearings before deciding the final sentence, with Yoon’s final statement scheduled for next week.
In Seoul on Thursday, October 29, 2026, the special counsel team led by Cho Eun‑suk filed a request for the death penalty against former President Yoon Suk‑yeol during his appellate trial for insurrection linked to his 2024 martial‑law declaration.
The move comes eight months after a lower court sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment for staging a riot by declaring martial law on December 3, 2024, an order that was revoked six hours later by a National Assembly vote.
During those six hours, troops were deployed to the National Assembly compound, a fact the February judgment described as an attempt to paralyze parliament and arrest key politicians.
Yoon had said the martial‑law declaration was intended to warn the opposition‑controlled parliament amid successive impeachments of senior officials and budget‑cutting pressures.
In the appellate hearing at the Seoul High Court, the special counsel team reiterated its demand for capital punishment, arguing that the lower court’s life sentence was too lenient.
There is no reason to hesitate to hand down the death penalty,
said a member of the team.
The strongest argument for objection to the death penalty is the possibility of a misjudgment just in case, but in this case, there is no room for that.
Under South Korean criminal law, the ringleader of an insurrection can receive only the death penalty, life imprisonment, or life imprisonment without labor. The special counsel said the practice of not carrying out the death penalty should not prevent it from being imposed.
South Korea has not executed anyone since December 1997, and Amnesty International classifies the country as a death‑penalty abolitionist in practice.
The Seoul High Court will hold two additional hearings before setting a sentencing date. Yoon’s final statement is scheduled to be delivered next Thursday.
Yoon was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April 2025 after a motion to impeach him was upheld, and he has been in detention since January 2025 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection.
Both the defense and the prosecution maintain that Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law represented a pivotal breach of constitutional order, with the special counsel insisting that the threat was “unforgivable” and “destroyed the constitutional order.”
