SOUTH Korea’s former President could be handed the death sentence – the first in almost 30 years – over his botched bid to impose martial law.
Yoon Suk Yeol has been labelled as the “ringleader of an insurrection who sought to stay in power by seizing control of the judiciary and legislature.”
After being impeached, the 65-year-old now faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to the debacle and other scandals related to his time in office.
Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones and – besides life behind bars – carries the maximum death penalty.
Footage from his first arrest showed police swarming to his official residence in Seoul as thousands took to the streets in protest.
It will be weeks before Yoon learns his fate.
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Independent counsel Cho Eun-suks team requested the Seoul Central District Court to sentence him to death, according to the court.
Yet, experts say the court likely will sentence him to life in prison as South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997, even though the death penalty has not been abolished.
Why did President Yoon declare martial law and what happened?
MARTIAL law was declared in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years in December 2024, plunging the country in a political crisis.
In a televised address to the nation, President Yoon announced the imposition and brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the assembly and enter election offices.
There had been speculation that he had resorted to such measures to protect his wife, Kim Keon Hee, from potential corruption investigations.
The First Lady is under investigation for alleged stock manipulation and receiving bribes from the cult-like Unification Church.
Yet, a six-month investigation, which concluded last month, revealed that he had plotted for over a year to impose martial law.
Yoon’s aim was to eliminate his political rivals and monopolize power.
His decree and the following power vacuum plunged South Korea into political turmoil, and halted the country’s high-level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets.
In 1996, former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan faced execution for seizing power in a military coup in 1979. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
The prosecutors in Yoon’s case argue that although no one was killed in his martial law attempt, his intent was no less violent.
The politician was scheduled to make remarks at today’s hearing.
He has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda.
No one imagined that Yoon could be facing either life in jail or execution when he won South Korea’s presidency in 2022, only a year after entering politics.
It has been a spectacular fall from grace for the former star prosecutor, with observers describing Yoon’s actions as political suicide.
He was arrested and indicted in January last year before being released in March.
After he was rearrested in July, the politician has remained detained since then.
Lee Jae Myung, a former Democratic Party leader who led Yoon’s impeachment bid, became President by winning a snap election last June.
After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to delve into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.