S. Korea: Court postpones hearing sentencing request for ex-President Yoon to Jan. 13

The bench overseeing Yoon's trial at the Seoul Central District Court announced the decision during what was supposed to be the final hearing, saying it would schedule an additional session next Tuesday to hear the sentencing request of special counsel Cho Eun-suk and Yoon's final statement.

Friday's session had been watched closely as the special counsel team had been expected to request one of three types of punishment allowed by law for the ringleader of an insurrection -- the death penalty, life imprisonment or life imprisonment without forced labor.

Yoon was indicted last January on charges of leading an insurrection through his Dec. 3, 2024, declaration of martial law.

The hearing had been expected to run late into the night as a total of eight defendants, including the ousted president, were scheduled to present their final statements and have their lawyers deliver closing arguments.

The seven defendants aside from Yoon include former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former National Police Agency chief Cho Ji-ho, who are accused of playing a key role in an insurrection through their involvement in the brief execution of martial law.

The session overran by longer than expected, however, as Kim's lawyers, who went first, spent more than 10 hours on examining paper evidence.

After 9 p.m., the bench announced it would end the session after the seven defendants aside from Yoon completed their respective paper evidence examination and closing arguments, and postponed the special counsel's sentencing recommendation and closing arguments, as well as Yoon's final statement, to next Tuesday.

Legal sources anticipate the court's sentencing will come in early February.

Yoon is charged with conspiring with the former defense minister and others to stage a riot with the aim of subverting the Constitution by illegally declaring martial law in the absence of war or an equivalent national emergency.

In particular, he is charged with mobilizing troops and the police to seal off the National Assembly compound and prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree, and ordering the arrest and detention of the National Assembly speaker and the then leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties.

Yoon became the first sitting president to be indicted with physical detention in January last year.

He was released in March following a court order that canceled his arrest but was taken into custody again in July on additional charges related to his martial law attempt.

The courtroom where Friday's hearing was held is the same place other former leaders were tried for various offenses, including former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, who in 1996 received sentencing recommendations of the death penalty and life imprisonment, respectively, for their roles in a 1979 coup that installed Chun in power in 1980.

Amnesty International has categorized South Korea as a death penalty abolitionist in practice as the punishment has not been carried out since December 1997.

Earlier, it was reported South Korea's court issues a new warrant to detain ex-President Yoon for another 6 months.