Anchor: A special counsel team is seeking a ten-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol if he is convicted of obstruction of justice and other offenses in connection with his failed martial law attempt last year. Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team requested the sentence during the final hearing in one of Yoon’s seven ongoing trials, saying the former president has severely undermined the rule of law in South Korea.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol evaded law enforcement for 12 days, confining himself in the heavily guarded presidential compound, after an initial attempt to arrest him failed on January 3.

On Friday, at the final hearing in one of seven criminal trials currently in progress for the ousted president, special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk sought five years for the resistance Yoon showed by creating standoffs between the police and his secret service.

The prosecution called for three additional years in prison for the former president for allegedly violating the rights of government ministers at a Cabinet meeting he arranged to get endorsement for his plan to put the country under martial law. 

Yoon also faces another two years for allegedly fabricating a martial law decree after he’d already suspended habeas corpus rights.

In calling for a total of ten years, the prosecution accused Yoon of betraying the public’s trust and said he has shown no shame or remorse for his crimes. 

During the hearing, Yoon argued that he only resisted the execution of an illegal warrant.

Of the former president’s seven ongoing criminal trials, four are related to his act of imposing martial law.

Friday’s hearing is the first of the four martial law trials in which arguments have concluded.

The court is scheduled to deliver its verdict January 16.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.