A special counsel team on Thursday again sought the death penalty for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in his appeal trial on insurrection charges stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law, local media reported.
The team, led by Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk, requested the sentence at the Seoul High Court, where Yoon is appealing his life imprisonment sentence, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for leading an insurrection through his failed martial law bid in December 2024, which lasted only a few hours before it was successfully blocked and overturned by the National Assembly.
Read: South Korea’s ex-President Yoon apologises after life sentence over martial law
Prosecutors first sought the death penalty in January of this year.
Yoon faces a total of eight trials in connection with his martial law attempt, his wife’s alleged corruption and the 2023 death of a marine officer.
He was formally removed from office in April 2025 after the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld his impeachment over his December 3, 2024 martial law declaration, triggering a snap presidential election.
Yoon apologised in February for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024, a day after a Seoul court sentenced him to life in prison for masterminding an insurrection.
In a statement released by his lawyers, Yoon said that while he was sorry for the “frustration and hardship” brought upon the people by his martial law decree, he stood behind the “sincerity and purpose” behind his actions.
The Seoul Central District Court’s decision to hand him a life sentence on Thursday was “predetermined,” he said, adding that the verdict against him was political retaliation.
