SEOUL, January 13. /TASS/. South Korea’s special counsel has requested that former President Yoon Suk-yeol be sentenced to death in his rebellion case, Yonhap reported.

The country’s Criminal Code provides for three types of punishment for trying to lead a rebellion, those being the death penalty, life in prison, and life imprisonment without forced labor.

Yoon Suk-yeol is charged with organizing a rebellion against the constitutional order by attempting to impose martial law in December 2024. In particular, he is suspected of ordering the military and police to cordon off the parliament building to bar the lawmakers from entering it and revoking martial law. A court verdict in his case is expected in early February. The death penalty has not been applied in South Korea since 1997.

In 1996, South Korea’s former President Chun Doo-hwan (1980-1988) was sentenced to death on charges of rebellion, high treason, and corruption due to his role in the 1979 military coup and the crackdown on the insurrection in Gwangju in 1980. However, capital punishment was replaced by a life sentence by the court of appeals and the Supreme Court. In 1997, he was pardoned by the then president, Kim Young-sam, in the interests of national unity.

Along with Chun Doo-hwan, his successor, Roh Tae-woo, stood trial on rebellion and corruption charges in 1996. The latter was sentenced to 22 years in prison but later the prison term was reduced to 17 1/2 years. In 1997, he was pardoned along with Chun Doo-hwan.

Former President Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) was sentenced to a prison term of 15 years on charges of corruption and abusing his office. He was pardoned by Yoon Suk-yeol in 2022.

President Park Geun-hye (2013-2017) was impeached, like Yoon Suk-yeol. In 2018, she was sentenced to 24 years behind bars on corruption charges but was pardoned by President Moon Jae-in in 2021.