"South Korea is awaiting one of the most consequential court rulings in decades this week, with judges due to deliver their verdict on insurrection charges against the former president Yoon Suk Yeol and prosecutors demanding the death penalty. When Yoon stands in courtroom 417 of Seoul central district court on Thursday to hear his fate, which will be broadcast live, he will do so in the same room where the military dictator Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death three decades ago."
"Under the country's criminal code, the charge of leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour. South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997, so in practice a death sentence would mean permanent exclusion from society with no possibility of parole. But as the ruling approaches, there is a sense of exhaustion and division in South Korea as the months-long saga, in which 27 people have been indicted over the martial law crisis, continues."
"Dowon Kim, a 32-year-old office worker in Seoul, no longer discusses politics with friends, some of whom still support Yoon. Society is too exhausted, he says, and my energy feels wasted trying to persuade them. South Korea has now impeached two presidents in under a decade, and Kim says people simply want to move past the cycle: Those who should be punished should be punished, and we need to move forward."
Former president Yoon Suk Yeol faces insurrection charges with prosecutors seeking the death penalty, and judges will deliver a live-broadcast verdict in Seoul central district court. The trial took place in courtroom 417, the same room where Chun Doo-hwan received a death sentence three decades earlier. The insurrection charge permits sentencing of death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour. South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997, so a death sentence would effectively bar any possibility of parole. The martial law crisis produced 27 indictments and has left the public exhausted, divided, and eager to move on.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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