A South Korean special prosecutor has demanded the death penalty for ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, ahead of an appeals court verdict on rebellion charges related to his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.
The Seoul High Court has not yet set a date for a verdict on Yoon's appeal of a life sentence he received in February from the Seoul Central District Court. That court found he had illegally mobilized troops and police to seize the legislature, arrest political opponents, and establish unchecked rule for a "considerable time."
Investigators led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk appealed the earlier ruling, asserting that Yoon deserves the death penalty because his actions posed a grave threat to the country’s democracy. However, an execution is unlikely, as South Korea has maintained an effective moratorium on capital punishment since 1997.
During the hearing at the high court, Cho's team argued that only the death penalty could fully hold Yoon accountable for orchestrating a rebellion and that the country's long-standing pause on executions should not prevent courts from imposing death sentences. Yoon’s legal team countered that prosecutors were repeating an argument "devoid of evidence and legal logic." They claimed Yoon's martial law was intended to raise public awareness about what he called attempts by the opposition-led legislature to paralyze state affairs, and that he had no intention of causing harm or establishing authoritarian rule.
Yoon's martial law decree, announced late on December 3, 2024, lasted only a few hours. Lawmakers managed to break through a blockade of soldiers and police at the National Assembly and voted to overturn the decree, forcing his Cabinet to lift the measure.
Yoon was suspended from office on December 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature. He was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025. He was re-arrested in July 2025 and has faced multiple criminal trials, with the rebellion charge carrying the heaviest potential punishment.
In addition to appealing his life sentence for rebellion, Yoon has also appealed a 30-year prison term. That conviction accused him of ordering drone flights in 2024 to heighten tensions with North Korea and create a pretext for martial law. Yoon's lawyers stated the drone flights were a response to North Korea flying thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South.