"For Yoon Suk Yeol, the death penalty would create a 'martyr aura'"... An SNU Law professor’s intuition

[Financial News] With the sentencing hearing on former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s alleged role as ringleader of an insurrection postponed to the 13th, attention is focusing on the sentence the special prosecutor will seek. Under the Criminal Act, the only statutory penalties for the offense of being a ringleader of insurrection are the death penalty, life imprisonment, and life imprisonment with labor, and a legal scholar’s argument that life imprisonment is preferable to the death penalty is drawing notice.

Han In-sup, professor emeritus at Seoul National University School of Law (SNU Law), wrote on his Facebook account on the 9th, “What should be imposed (as the sentencing recommendation and the sentence) on the ringleader of an insurrection is the harshest penalty that can actually be carried out. Under our legal system, that executable harshest penalty is not the death penalty but life imprisonment.”
Although there have been repeated calls to seek the death penalty—the maximum statutory punishment—for Yoon Suk Yeol and for the court to hand down a death sentence, Professor Han explains that the practical benefits of the death penalty are limited. Han is a criminal law expert who has been a strong critic of the December 3 Emergency Martial Law Incident and of Yoon Suk Yeol.
As an advocate of abolishing capital punishment, Han first pointed to the fact that South Korea is in effect a country that has abolished the death penalty in practice, meaning there is no realistic prospect of executions being carried out.
Han wrote, “In Korea, the death penalty still exists on the books, but there have been no executions for 27 years,” adding, “Even if a death sentence is handed down, in practical terms its effect is the same as life imprisonment. Even if the prosecution seeks the death penalty and the first-instance court imposes it, as the case goes through the appeals process, I believe there is a high likelihood that Yoon Suk Yeol will ultimately end up with a life sentence.”
He continued, citing precedent: “There is also the case of Chun Doo-hwan, whose case concluded with a life sentence.” In 1996, Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death at first instance on charges including leading an insurrection, but his sentence was reduced on appeal and finalized as life imprisonment.

Han also pointed out that imposing the death penalty could have the side effect of granting former President Yoon Suk Yeol a “martyr narrative.”
“Although the death penalty is not carried out, its symbolic impact is enormous,” Han stressed. “It has the effect of definitively declaring that a person is unworthy of living in this world, but it also has side effects. A death-row inmate can rally followers around them, and a martyr effect emerges.”
He went on, “When terrorists or political offenders are sentenced to death and executed, the impact is etched into people’s minds for generations,” adding, “Even if they have done terrible things, once they are executed, it is seen as having fully paid their debt, so the force of condemnation diminishes, while the impression they leave is so powerful that it obscures their misdeeds in life. It becomes perfect material for a movie.”
On that basis, he even suggested that former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his supporters might actually be waiting for a death sentence.
Han wrote, “There is no reason for Yoon Suk Yeol to be gripped by fear or terror when the prosecution seeks the death penalty or when a death sentence is handed down. It is obvious that he will not actually be executed,” adding, “He can loudly tout the ‘death sentence’ as a badge of honor and use it as a tool to rally his supporters. I imagine he would be able to raise far more money in his prison account or through Super Chat donations.”
He also explained why life imprisonment is more fitting for former President Yoon Suk Yeol than the death penalty.
“What should be imposed on the ringleader of an insurrection is the harshest penalty that can actually be carried out. Under our legal system, that executable harshest penalty is not the death penalty but life imprisonment,” Han wrote. “I do not think we need to place on him a crown of thorns in the form of a death sentence that will never be carried out, radiating a martyr’s aura.”
Finally, Han concluded, “Whether the sentencing recommendation or the verdict is the death penalty or life imprisonment, I do not think there is any reason to be elated or dejected, or to react with rage or shock,” adding, “However, if the final effective sentence in reality and at law ends up being less than life imprisonment, then I believe there is ample reason to respond with anger and outrage.”
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter