ED No leniency for Yoon

Citizens watching news that the special counsel team requesting death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday at Seoul Station, downtown Seoul. Newsis

Exactly 406 days after Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, the special counsel team requested the death penalty for the former president, who stands accused of masterminding an insurrection.

By seeking the toughest penalty possible for insurrection charges, the independent counsel is sending the message that the former president’s actions, including sending armed forces and the police into the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, gravely undermined the constitution. In a country where no executions have been carried out since 1997, the special prosecution team is saying that the legal judgement should be so severe as to “convey that such history will not repeat itself again.”

The trial that took place at Seoul Central District Court and the resulting death penalty request are a painfully jarring reminder of what took place in 1996. Prosecutors had requested the death penalty for former President Chun Doo-hwan, over his role in the Dec. 12, 1979 military coup and the bloody crackdown on the May 18 Gwangju uprising, while life imprisonment was sought for former President Roh Tae-woo for his own role in the events. The actual sentences were commuted, and the two men received presidential pardons. But the court definitively judged that their actions had resulted in bloodshed and the tragic loss of lives during the last throes of South Korean authoritarianism.

South Koreans never expected this traumatic history to repeat itself in the 21st century. But it did, and it should weigh heavily on the nation’s conscience — most of all Yoon’s — that a president hand-picked by a democratic electorate felt compelled to declare martial law in peacetime. The independent counsel stressed that Yoon “planned the insurrection despite the historical precedent of punishing Chun and Roh,” arguing that he therefore deserves a harsher punishment than the military leaders of that era. Additionally, the prosecutors argued, Yoon declared martial law despite an absence of war or national crisis.

Yoon said in his defense that his martial law declaration was not meant to upend the constitutional order, but was a legitimate exercise of his executive power and therefore should not be subject to legal judgement. He insisted he took actions to counter what he referred to as the dangers posed by “anti-state forces,” which included the then-opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the DPK-controlled National Assembly.

The matter now rests with the Seoul Central District Court, which must determine the appropriate punishment with the primary aim of upholding the integrity of the constitution and protecting the public. The political sphere, the former president and the public alike should await the verdict, which is expected next month, with patience.

In the meantime, it is impossible to ignore the heavy social toll inflicted by Yoon’s abrupt action on that night in 2024 — one still difficult to measure in figures or data. The year that followed was a blur, marked by shock and deepening division. The calendar filled with rival political rallies that overtook the streets, followed by Yoon’s impeachment in April, the election of President Lee Jae Myung in June and a string of trials related to the incident.

The nation has never received an apology from Yoon. In his trials, he has demonstrated the depth and breadth of his legal expertise, choosing selectively which hearings to attend. While reports say he apologized to military officials during a separate military court proceeding, he has otherwise stood by his claim that the declaration of martial law was necessary to counter the DPK-controlled National Assembly. The former ruling People Power Party, for its part, took more than a year to issue its own apology.

The court must rule wisely — and as firmly as the law allows — so the public can regain confidence in a democratic Korea.