Paul Singh Portfolio

Yoon Suk-Yeol

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-Yeol could either face life or the death penalty for Martial Law that he imposed back on Dec. 3, 2024. Yoon is also charged with a separate insurrection charge. 

Charges that the former president will face are abuse of power and obstruction of official duties. Another charge the former president is facing is aiding the enemy due to the military operations he ordered against North Korea. 

Yoon Suk-Yeol is the first president to be charged with a crime, especially a crime that could carry out the death penalty. But death is unlikely as it has been decades since South Korea carried out executions. 

Reports claim that the former president had imposed martial law to monopolize power and eliminate political rivals. In addition, accusations reveal the reason he ordered military operations against North Korea was to escalate tensions. 

According to the South Korean news media, “Under the Criminal Act’s strict provisions governing insurrection ringleaders, sentencing options are limited to three: death, life imprisonment with labor, or life imprisonment without labor.”

A court hearing for the former president has been postponed and had resumed on the 13th due to defense lawyers extending reviews of evidence along with arguments. The review of evidence took eight hours before deciding to hold another trial date. 

“He also faces charges of compelling the military and police to perform tasks beyond their duties, such as arresting and detaining key political figures without warrants,” the Chosun Daily reports.

The former president`s lawyers expressed the right for all defendants to review the evidence for seven and a half hours each. 

Last year in January, he was arrested after a stand-off with his security and anti-corruption investigators but two months later he was released. Then, in August of that year, his wife Kim Keon-Hee was also arrested on charges of corruption and bribery. 

During the 2024 martial law crisis, it lasted for six hours where political activities and military rule were suspended. In addition, the media was controlled, doctors were ordered to go back to work along with protests being banned. 

In addition, even when protests were banned, there were still thousands of people who protested. Then to vote down on the former president`s power grab, parliamentary members fought their way into the assembly building, which included breaking down the windows to access the building.