[Edaily Sung Gha-hyun Kang Min-hyeok Reporter] The Special Prosecutor’s Office investigating the insurrection, led by Cho Eun-seok, has sought the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is charged with being the ringleader of the insurrection, just as it did in the first trial.

On the 29th, during the second-instance trial for former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s charges—including leading an insurrection—held before Criminal Division 12-1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-cheol), the special prosecution team requested the court to impose the death penalty. Under the Criminal Code, the statutory penalties for the crime of leading an insurrection are limited to three: △ the death penalty, △ life imprisonment, and △ life in prison.

Regarding the previous first-instance verdict, the special prosecution team pointed out that day, “Former President Yoon’s plan for a state of emergency was not flawed,” adding, “It was merely the resistance of the public and the passive execution of duties by frontline military and police personnel that caused the plan to deviate from its intended execution.” They further argued, “The restraint from using physical force was not intentional but merely an optical illusion of the outcome; it was the soldiers and police on the ground who exercised restraint, not the defendant Yoon Suk-yeol.”

They added, “The knowledge gained from his long career as a prosecutor was mobilized in this act of insurrection,” and stated, “He did not violate the law out of ignorance but, as a legal expert, abused it; therefore, that career is not a reason to reduce his sentence but rather a reason to increase it.”

In particular, they referred to former President Yoon as a traitor who sought to deny and overthrow the constitutional order of the Republic of Korea, emphasizing that he should be sentenced to death. The special prosecution team stated, “Mobilizing the military to destroy the constitutional order is not a mere political blunder or abuse of authority, but an act of treason of the highest order that betrayed the people’s trust and constitutes the worst crime of state subversion,” and urged, “To ensure that the people’s resistance is not in vain and to prevent the emergence of a second Yoon Suk-yeol, please hand down the most resolute sentence prescribed by law.”

Former President Yoon was indicted in January of last year on charges of declaring an unconstitutional and unlawful state of emergency on December 3, 2024, and deploying military and police forces into the National Assembly to incite a riot aimed at subverting the constitution.

He was also charged with mobilizing the military and police to blockade the National Assembly and obstruct a vote to lift the state of emergency, as well as attempting to arrest and detain key figures—including National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, President Lee Jae-myung, and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon—and staff members of the National Election Commission.

The trial court found former President Yoon guilty of insurrection and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court ruled that issuing a proclamation banning political activities with the intent to suspend the National Assembly’s functions for a significant period, and mobilizing military and police forces to blockade and infiltrate the National Assembly, constituted a riot aimed at subverting the constitution.