On the evening of the 13th, South Korea's special prosecutor's office requested the court to sentence former President Yoon Suk-yeol to death on charges of leading an insurrection. In the early hours of the 14th, the court announced that the first-instance verdict would be delivered on February 19.
The final hearing of the insurrection case involving Yoon Suk-yeol and seven others continued on Tuesday at Courtroom 417 of the Seoul Central District Court. This courtroom has previously tried cases related to four former South Korean presidents: Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Lee Myung-bak, and Park Geun-hye. Yoon Suk-yeol is the first former president in nearly 30 years, since Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, to stand trial for alleged insurrection crimes, and the second former president, after Chun Doo-hwan, to face a death penalty request from the prosecution. Co-defendant and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun has been requested by prosecutors to receive life imprisonment.
Prosecutors believe that Yoon Suk-yeol abused his position and powers as president to conduct organized crime. His declaration of martial law in December 2024 was, according to prosecutors, an attempt to eliminate political opposition, thereby achieving monopoly and prolongation of power—essentially seeking dictatorship and long-term rule. The defendant acted purely out of personal ambition, mobilizing military and police resources that should have served the state and public interest, for criminal purposes of an extremely egregious nature. In terms of goals, means, and manner, these actions constitute anti-state behavior as defined under the National Security Act.
Prosecutors stated that Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo had previously been convicted and sentenced for the military coup of December 1979 and martial law events of May 1980. Despite these historical lessons, the present case still occurred; therefore, when sentencing the defendant, serious consideration must be given to the possibility of recidivism.