Death penalty demanded against South Korean former president Yoon for attempted coup

A special prosecutor in Seoul on Tuesday demanded the death penalty against former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon tried – in vain – to take power in December 2024 by declaring martial law.

The sentence came on the last day of one of the most important trials against Yoon, whose coup attempt was met with massive demonstrations and a decisive intervention by the opposition-dominated parliament. He was deposed, arrested and charged a few weeks later.

Yoon had given an unexpected television speech on the evening of December 3, 2024, in which he announced that political activities, including those of parliament, were temporarily banned and that, among other things, trade unions and the free press were being restricted. According to him, these temporary measures were necessary because the country was threatened by “anti-state and pro-North Korean forces” who allegedly infiltrated the parliament.

The conservative Yoon had been elected president a year and a half earlier with a razor-thin margin. Although he impressed with decisive foreign policy – ​​including establishing a defense cooperation with Japan and the United States – he achieved little in his own country because he lacked parliamentary support. He was also frustrated by the many corruption investigations against people from his political and personal entourage, including his wife Kim Keon-hee, who is now also in custody.

Drones to North Korea

Yoon had also become convinced that the 2020 and 2024 parliamentary elections, both won by his political opponents, had been manipulated by China and North Korea. On the night of his coup attempt, he had the military raid the South Korean election commission, where they seized computer servers in search of evidence of this conspiracy theory fueled by right-wing YouTubers.

One of the most salient accusations made by prosecutors is that Yoon tried to provoke a military confrontation with North Korea that could help justify the state of emergency. He is said to have sent drones over the border with North Korea several times in October and November 2024, weeks before his coup attempt. They flew over the capital Pyongyang, where they allegedly distributed leaflets. At least one drone crashed and was shown in North Korean state media.

Death penalty not carried out in practice

Yoon has denied all allegations. According to him, his TV speech was a symbolic act to “wake up” the country, and he also had the legal authority to do so.

But according to the prosecutor, Yoon was guilty of ‘rebellion’ out of a ‘hunger for power’ and ‘with the intention of establishing a dictatorship’. He showed no remorse for his actions, which posed “a threat to the constitutional order and democracy,” the South Korean justice said.

This most serious of a series of charges against Yoon carries a maximum penalty of death, and it has therefore been demanded. In practice, this has not been carried out in South Korea since 1997, so that Yoon will disappear behind bars if convicted. Previously, Yoon was also sentenced to ten years in prison for obstructing the police when he barricaded himself in his barricaded official residence to avoid arrest.

The lawsuit does not only focus on Yoon. His former Minister of Defense, among others, is also on trial. Earlier in the day, the public prosecutor demanded life in prison for his involvement. Prison sentences of between fifteen and thirty years have been demanded against several senior military and intelligence officers involved in the coup attempt.

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