Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice said on the 19th, ahead of the first-trial verdict on former President Yoon Suk-yeol's charge of being the ringleader of insurrection, that "only resolute punishment can prevent the emergence of another Chun Doo-hwan and Yoon Suk-yeol and break the chain of insurrection."
The Minister wrote on social media (SNS) the same day, "I expect a stern and appropriate ruling commensurate with the weight of history. It must be the day the judiciary punishes those who never repent, in the name of the Constitution and the rule of law."
The Criminal Agreement Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Jee Kui-youn, Director General judge) will hold a sentencing hearing for eight people, including former President Yoon and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, at 3 p.m. on the 19th in the Supreme Courtroom 417 of the Seoul Central District Court. Former President Yoon is charged with being the ringleader of insurrection, while former Minister Kim and others face charges including engaging in critical duties related to insurrection.
The statutory penalties for the crime of being the ringleader of insurrection are death, life imprisonment, or life confinement. The special prosecutor for the insurrection case sought the maximum sentence allowed by law, death, for former President Yoon.
A former president who was sought the death penalty includes former President Chun Doo-hwan, who stood trial on the same charge as former President Yoon. In the case related to the Dec. 12, 1979 military coup and the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy movement, prosecutors sought the death penalty for former President Chun in 1996, and the first trial sentenced him to death, but the second trial commuted it to life imprisonment, which the Supreme Court affirmed.