On the 26th, the special counsel for insurrection asked the court to sentence former President Yoon Suk-yeol to 10 years in prison at a closing hearing on charges including obstructing his arrest and infringing on Cabinet members' rights to deliberate and decide on martial law. By charge, the requests were ▲ five years for obstructing arrest ▲ three years for infringing Cabinet members' authority, etc. ▲ two years for drafting a false martial law proclamation, etc.
Park Eok-su, the deputy special counsel for the insurrection probe, at a closing hearing held before the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 35 (Presiding Judge Baek Dae-hyeon, Director General) on charges including obstruction of special official duties and abuse of power to interfere with the exercise of rights, said, "The crimes in this case are grave offenses in which the defendant privatized state institutions to conceal and justify the defendant's own crimes," and sought the sentence as above.
The special counsel said, "The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic, and all power comes from the people; the president's power is no different," adding, "Under the pretext of changing the imperial presidency, the defendant moved the presidential office from the Blue House to Yongsan but did not follow any of the checks on an imperial presidency."
The special counsel added, "By committing the crimes to suit the defendant's own interests, Korea's legal order was seriously damaged and deep harm was done to the people who trusted the defendant and elected the president," and "Nevertheless, during the investigation and trial, rather than conveying remorse or an apology to the public, the defendant repeatedly asserted the legitimacy of declaring martial law." The special counsel also said, "It is necessary to hold the defendant strictly accountable to restore the constitutional order and the rule of law that were damaged, and to ensure that crimes of abuse of power by the highest officeholder never recur in Korea's history."
Regarding the charge of obstructing the CIO's arrest, the special counsel said it sought a five-year prison term, heavier than the sentencing guideline's aggravated range of one to four years, citing that "there is no precedent for militarizing staff belonging to the Presidential Security Service to systematically block the execution of a warrant."
After the lifting of martial law, the former president is also accused of creating a false proclamation to make it appear that martial law had been carried out based on a document signed by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, and of shredding and destroying the document, which is a presidential record and an official document. The charges also include ordering the dissemination to foreign media of a press guidance (PG) containing the false statement "there was not the slightest intent to destroy the constitutional order," ordering the deletion of secure phone communication logs of former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung and others, and directing the Presidential Security Service to block the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. PG refers to press guidance, meaning the government's media response statement.
The former president appeared in court wearing a navy suit and watched the sentencing request with a stern expression. After the request, when the former president's side raised procedural objections, the court continued with evidence examination. The defense's closing argument and the former president's final statement are to follow.
The special counsel indicted the former president in custody in July, finding that at the time of declaring martial law, the former president convened only a few Cabinet members favorable to the defendant to merely give the appearance of a Cabinet meeting, thereby infringing the constitutional right of nine Cabinet members who could not attend to deliberate and decide on martial law.
Before the closing procedure that day, witness examinations for former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok had been scheduled, but both did not appear, and the witness examinations were withdrawn.
Before adjourning, the court is expected to set a sentencing date. At a previous hearing, the court had forecast a Jan. 16 sentencing, in line with the intent of the special counsel law on insurrection that the first-instance verdict must be delivered within six months from the date of indictment. If sentencing is handed down on Jan. 16 as previously indicated, it will be the first ruling not only among the four martial law-related trials of the former president but also among the seven cases in which the former president has been indicted.