South Korean government prosecutors have recommended that former President Yoon Suk Yeol be punished with death for his stunning effort early in December 2024 to return to dictatorship. This is an important story regarding wrenching developments in an extremely close strategic ally of the United States.
Separately, he was sentenced to five years in prison for obstruction, but a range of other charges are still pending. Yoon also has various options. He could seek a reduction in sentence at an appeal trial, and carry the effort all the way to the Supreme Court of South Korea.
The entire process will likely take years. South Korea today is judicially careful.
Conservative Yoon served as a career prosecutor before being elected president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 2022. That relatively narrow background may explain his sudden and surprising declaration of national emergency and attempt to impose strict martial law.
Yoon’s rationale was that the nation had somehow grown weaker and was vulnerable to the communist forces of North Korea. He declared emergency rule was in effect and ordered the military to seize control of parliament.
This was a crucial, pivotal moment and military leaders reacted responsibly – and shrewdly.
Under this presidential directive, ROK Army soldiers did go to the parliament building, surrounded and entered the premises, but then went no further.
Militaries, by definition, are heavy-handed. South Korea, for many years, was ruled by a harsh military dictatorship. The fact that on this occasion senior officers chose a very light touch, preserving still-new representative institutions while not directly disobeying a direct presidential order, is extraordinary – and deserves far more comment and commendation than has been received.
Armed soldiers refrained from interfering with the business of the people’s elected representatives. That was the key moment and decision. Had the Army seized control, even temporarily, the still relatively new democratic institutions of South Korea would have been put in serious jeopardy.
Later in December 2024, Yoon was impeached by parliament. An arrest warrant was issued. An attempt to serve the warrant led to a tense, hours-long standoff with the president’s bodyguards at the presidential residence, where Yoon had confined himself. Finally, on Jan. 15, Yoon surrendered to authorities.
Yoon’s troubled presidency mercifully came to an end on April 4, 2025. The nation’s Constitutional Court formally ruled that he had exceeded his authority and overstepped the law in declaring martial law and attempting to use the special powers thereof to maintain control of the government.
Following the Constitution, a presidential election was held in June. The winner was Yoon’s rival Lee Jae-myung. Lee and supporters are on the political left. For example, he quickly moved to improve relations with China.
The recent decision of the court has confirmed that parliament was justified in voting to impeach Yoon, who was charged with insurrection. He is the first president to be charged with a crime while in office, though not the first to face prosecution.
No less than four former presidents of South Korea have been imprisoned following indictment, trial and conviction. However, no one has been executed in South Korea since 1997, and leniency characterizes appeals results.
A peasant society, the entire Korean peninsula was devastated by the Korean War of 1950-53. Today, the Republic of Korea ranks among the world’s top economies.
This remarkable nation has fully vindicated strong U.S. support during the Korean War and since.
Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan).
Contact acyr@carthage.edu