In brief
In Seoul, special counsel Cho Eun‑suk’s team again requested the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol during his appellate trial over insurrection charges. The request repeats the team’s earlier demand and follows a life‑imprisonment ruling in February. Yonhap reported that Amnesty International classifies South Korea as a de‑facto abolitionist, a fact not cited by Xinhua.
Special counsel Cho Eun‑suk's team again requested the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in his appellate trial over insurrection charges linked to the 2024 martial‑law declaration, Seoul High Court, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026.
The request echoes the indictment issued in January 2025 and the life‑imprisonment ruling handed down by a lower court in February 2026 after Yoon’s brief order of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024 was revoked by the National Assembly hours later.
There is no reason to hesitate to hand down the death penalty,
a member of the team said.
During the six‑hour period that the martial law was in force, troops moved to the National Assembly compound, a move the lower court characterized as an attempt to paralyze parliament and arrest key politicians.
Special counsel Cho Eun‑suk argued that Yoon’s declaration, aimed at eradicating “anti‑state forces,” was an unconstitutional attempt to suspend the Constitution and destroy the democratic order.
Both Yonhap and Xinhua note that Yoon has maintained that his martial‑law move was intended as a warning to the opposition‑controlled parliament amid successive impeachments of senior officials.
Yonhap reported that Amnesty International considers South Korea a death‑penalty abolitionist in practice, noting the punishment has not been carried out since December 1997, and that Yoon’s final statement is scheduled for next Thursday.
Under Korean criminal law, an insurrection ringleader may be sentenced to either the death penalty or life imprisonment, with life imprisonment carrying a separate provision for labor absence.
The Seoul High Court will hold two additional hearings before setting a sentencing date, Xinhua noted.
The death‑penalty request also highlights the broader debate over Korea’s use of capital punishment, as the country’s last execution took place in 1997 and its statutes have been unenforced for decades.
