Foreign Media Spotlight Death Penalty Sought for Yoon: "First Since Chun Doo-hwan"

NYT: "Yoon's Martial Law Declaration Triggers Worst Political Crisis in Decades"

After former President Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced to the death penalty-the highest punishment under the law-major international media outlets such as The New York Times (NYT) and the Associated Press (AP) gave significant coverage to the news on the 13th (local time).

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the continuation trial on charges of leading a rebellion held on the 29th of last month at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

The New York Times described former President Yoon's declaration of martial law as "the first such event since South Korea democratized in the 1980s," and assessed that it "triggered the country's worst political crisis in decades." The NYT also noted, "The last president to be charged with insurrection was the dictator Chun Doo-hwan," adding, "Chun was arrested after leaving office and sentenced to death for leading a military coup in 1979 and massacring pro-democracy protesters the following year, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released after two years following a presidential pardon." The report also pointed out that South Korea is, in effect, an abolitionist country, as no executions have taken place since 1997.

The Associated Press also delivered the news of the death penalty sentencing in a breaking news format and, in follow-up reports, covered the special prosecutor team's closing arguments and former President Yoon's final statement. AP stated, "Former President Yoon is the first South Korean president to face the possibility of a death sentence since Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death in 1996," and added, "With the first declaration of martial law in over 40 years, the military surrounded the National Assembly and stormed the National Election Commission. This incident has revived the trauma of the dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s."

Additionally, the British daily The Guardian reported that this is "the first insurrection trial of a South Korean president in about 30 years." The Arab media outlet Al Jazeera broadcast the special prosecutor Cho Eunseok's closing argument, stating, "The greatest victims of this insurrection are the people."