South Korea's special counsel team on Thursday asked the Seoul High Court to sentence former president Yoon Suk Yeol to death, renewing its call for the maximum penalty in his appeal trial over insurrection charges linked to his failed martial law declaration of 3 December 2024.

The request came from the team led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, eight months after a lower court sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment. Prosecutors argued that the life term was too lenient for the gravity of the offence.

Life sentence called too lenient

Prosecutors told the court the martial law order was the product of months of preparation, pointing to seized records they said showed planning stretching back at least eight months. They argued that Yoon, as the president sworn to uphold the constitution, had instead used troops against the people and sought to paralyse parliament.

The team also argued that South Korea not having carried out an execution since December 1997 should not stop a court imposing a death sentence.

Defence disputes the case

Yoon has maintained the declaration was intended as a warning to the opposition-controlled parliament. His defence has called the prosecution's death penalty request legally unfounded.

The High Court plans to hold two further hearings before setting a sentencing date, with Yoon's final statement expected next Thursday. No new ruling has yet been issued in the appeal.

Background to the case

Yoon declared emergency martial law on 3 December 2024; the decree lasted about six hours before lawmakers voted to demand it be lifted. Parliament impeached him later that month, the Constitutional Court removed him from office on 4 April 2025, and in February 2026 the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to life in prison for leading an insurrection. Source: Korea JoongAng Daily (Yonhap).