A South Korean special prosecutor on Thursday demanded the death penalty for ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol. The demand came ahead of an appeals court verdict on rebellion charges stemming from his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.
The Seoul High Court has not yet scheduled a date for the verdict. Yoon is appealing a life sentence handed down in February by the Seoul Central District Court.
The lower court found that Yoon illegally mobilised troops and police to seize the legislature. He also sought to arrest political opponents and establish unchecked rule for a considerable time.
Investigators led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk also appealed the ruling. They argued that Yoon deserves the death penalty because his actions posed a grave threat to the country’s democracy.
An execution is unlikely. South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997, maintaining an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment.
During the hearing at the high court, Cho’s team stated that only the death penalty could fully hold Yoon accountable. They argued that a crime as serious as orchestrating a rebellion warrants capital punishment regardless of the country’s long-standing pause on executions.
Yoon’s legal team told reporters that prosecutors were repeating an argument devoid of evidence and legal logic. They claimed that Yoon’s martial law was intended to raise public awareness about attempts by the opposition-led legislature to paralyse state affairs.
The defence added that Yoon had no intention of causing harm or establishing authoritarian rule. Yoon’s martial law decree, announced late at night on December 3, 2024, lasted only hours.
Lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and police at the National Assembly. They voted to overturn the measure, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it.
Yoon was suspended from office on December 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature. The Constitutional Court formally removed him in April 2025 before he was re-arrested in July 2025.
As well as appealing his life sentence for rebellion, Yoon has also appealed a thirty-year prison term. That case accused him of ordering drone flights in 2024 to deliberately heighten tensions with North Korea and create a pretext for domestic martial law. Yoon’s lawyers maintained the drone flights were a response to North Korea flying thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South.
