South Korean prosecutors seek death penalty for former President Yoon on insurrection charge
Former Prosecutor General Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to declare his bid for presidency at a memorial dedicated to the noble sacrifice of independence fighter Yun Bong-gil on June 29, 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Kim Min-Hee – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is standing trial on charges of leading an insurrection.
During a 17-hour closing hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors argued that Yoon’s alleged actions posed a grave threat to the constitutional order and warranted the maximum punishment allowed under South Korean law. The former president has been on trial since he was impeached last April on charges that he led an insurrection by attempting to impose martial law in December 2024. Insurrection is one of the few crimes still punishable by death in the country.
“The fact that prosecutors sought the death penalty may be because former President Yoon continues to maintain that his actions were justified and has shown no remorse or acknowledgment of wrongdoing,” Jungkun Seo, a professor at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University, told ABC News Wednesday.
“It was widely expected that the outcome would be either the death penalty or life imprisonment,” Seo said.
South Korea has not carried out an execution in nearly 30 years, and legal observers said the prosecution’s request was consistent with past practice in cases involving former leaders accused of insurrection, even if the likelihood of an execution remains low.
Many lawmakers from the Democratic Party welcomed the call for the death penalty following the hearing.
“Calling for the death penalty for Yoon is not a matter of choice but a necessity and cannot be considered excessive,” Moon Geum-ju, a Democratic Party floor spokesperson, said in a statement Wednesday.
Moon said suggesting a lesser sentence for someone accused of undermining the Constitution and plunging the country into crisis would be an affront to justice and common sense.
Meanwhile, lawmakers from the conservative People Power Party appeared to distance themselves from the former president, declining to issue an official statement on the case.
Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk told reporters Wednesday that the special prosecutor’s sentencing request was not an issue he should comment on, adding that he expects the court to conduct a fair trial.
The presidential office said it expects the judiciary to rule in accordance with the law and public expectations.
Two former South Korean presidents were convicted of insurrection in the 1990s for their roles in a 1979 military coup. Prosecutors at the time sought the death penalty for former President Chun Doo-hwan and a life sentence for his successor, Roh Tae-woo.
Chun was initially sentenced to death, though the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Roh was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Both men were released after serving about two years following a presidential pardon, which the government at the time described as necessary for national reconciliation.
The court is scheduled to deliver a final verdict on Feb. 19 at the Seoul Central District Court.
A view of the destruction in the area following Russia’s drone attack in the city of Odessa, Ukraine on February 12, 2026. (Artur Shvits/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia is yet to respond to a U.S.-backed energy truce, as the two combatants continue to exchange long-range drone and missile strikes amid American-led peace talks.
Recent trilateral U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks in the United Arab Emirates were described by all sides as constructive, though appear to have failed to find a breakthrough on several contentious points or secure a new truce covering critical energy infrastructure.
After the most recent round of talks last week, Zelenskyy said that U.S. officials proposed a temporary pause in attacks on energy targets, which would have mirrored the brief pause on such attacks that occurred at the end of January.
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Kyiv is yet to receive a response from Moscow on the purported offer. “On the contrary, we’ve received a response in the form of drone and missile attacks. This suggests that they are not yet ready for the energy ceasefire proposed in Abu Dhabi by the American side,” he said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 25 missiles and 219 drones into the country overnight, of which 16 missiles and 197 drones were shot down or suppressed.
The impacts of nine missiles and 19 drones were reported across 13 locations, the air force said. “The main targets are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa,” the air force wrote on Telegram.
Four people, including two children, were also injured in strikes on the central city of Dnipro, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. An earlier strike on the Synelnykove city just outside of Dnipro killed four people and injured three others, the regional administration said in posts to Telegram.
The Interior Ministry said that at least 13 people were injured in a series of drone strikes in the city of Barvinkove in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
The regional military administration in Odesa said one person was also injured there by Russian strikes.
The Interior Ministry reported damage to several areas of the capital. At least two people were injured by the attacks on Kyiv, according to the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that almost 2,600 residential buildings were left without heating due to “damage to critical infrastructure targeted by the enemy.”
In total, approximately more than 1 million people without heating in the Ukrainian capital, according to Klitschko and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
DTEK — Ukraine’s top private energy firm — reported major damage to its energy infrastructure in Odesa, plus an attack on a thermal power plant.
Ukrenergo, the state energy transmission operator, reported power outages in Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attacks as “Russian terror” in a post to X. “Each such strike is a blow to peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Russia must be forced to take diplomacy seriously and deescalate,” he said.
Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram, “There needs to be more protection against these attacks.”
“The most effective defense against Russian ballistic missiles is the ‘Patriot’ system, and the supply of missiles for these systems is needed every day,” he added, referring to the U.S.-made surface-to-air missile platform.
“Everything currently available in the air defense program should arrive faster,” he said.
Ukraine continued its own drone strike campaign overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 106 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday morning.
Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that two people were killed in drone attacks. At least 15 other people were injured across the region by Ukrainian attacks, the governor said. Gladkov also said Ukrainian forces fired several missiles into the region.
Local officials in the Volgograd, Tambov and Voronezh reported damage to industrial sites and falling drone debris in or close to residential areas.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, reported temporary flight restrictions for airports in Kaluga, Volgograd, Saratov, Yaroslavl, Kotlas, Ukhta, Perm and Kirov.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement posted to social media that among the targets of the strikes were the main arsenal of Russia’s missile and artillery forces in the Volgograd region. “This arsenal is one of the largest ammunition storage sites of the Russian army,” the General Staff said.
The ongoing peace talks have seen no easing of long-range strikes by either side, as the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion approaches.
As yet, no next round of talks have been scheduled. Zelenskyy said the U.S. had proposed a new trilateral meeting to be held in Miami, but that, “So far, as I understand it, Russia is hesitating.”
“We are ready. It doesn’t matter to us whether the meeting will be in Miami or Abu Dhabi. The main thing is that there should be a result,” the Ukrainian president said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday that Moscow had “a certain understanding” regarding the next round of talks. “We expect the next round to take place soon. We’ll also give you directions on the location,” he added, as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
Russian Foreign Ministry officials have this week been critical of the ongoing peace push.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week suggested that the U.S. side had drifted from the understandings reached between Moscow and Washington at the August meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Lavrov also said Trump’s administration had failed to roll back former President Joe Biden-era sanctions against Moscow.
Lavrov and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova framed the lack of progress as the fault of Kyiv and its European backers.
“At the current stage, it is the European Union that is preventing the Kyiv regime from making any compromises in exchange for promises to provide everything necessary to continue military operations,” Zakharova said in a briefing on Thursday, as quoted by Tass.
Lord Peter Mandelson leaving his home in Wiltshire. Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, police said Monday.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police issued a statement, saying, “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday and has been taken to a London police station for interview. This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”
Mandelson is a former U.K. ambassador to the United States.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York arrives for the Requiem Mass service for Katharine, Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral on September 16, 2025, in London, England. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt – Pool/Getty Images)
(THAMES VALLEY, England) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is facing new scrutiny over his communications with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police department in Thames Valley, England, confirmed Monday it is assessing new allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor, a brother of Britain’s King Charles III, shared with Epstein confidential reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia he took as Britain’s then-envoy for international trade.
“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” a Thames Valley Police spokesperson told ABC News Monday.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Monday the palace will support authorities as needed.
“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”
The spokesperson continued, “As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”
The new allegations against Andrew come shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice public released 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minor girls.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name shows up in the documents in his communications with Epstein, including correspondence in 2010 after Epstein concluded a 13-month jail sentence and work release — the result of a 2008 plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Florida.
The documents also show the two men communicated beyond the time that Mountbatten-Windsor said publicly that he had cut ties with Epstein.
ABC News has reached out to a representative for Mountbatten-Windsor for comment about the documents.
The former prince has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.
Last year, Charles ordered that Mountbatten-Windsor, a son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, have his “style, titles and honours,” including his “prince” title, removed amid continued fallout from his relationship with Epstein.
ABC News confirmed that Mountbatten-Windsor has also moved out of his longtime royal residence, Royal Lodge, a 30-room mansion on the grounds of Windsor Estate, and will now live permanently on the king’s privately owned Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, over 100 miles away from his previous home.
As the fallout for Mountbatten-Windsor continues, his nephew and heir to the throne, Prince William, and William’s wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, spoke out publicly for the first time Monday about the latest release of Epstein-related documents.
Ahead of William’s arrival in Saudi Arabia for an official visit, a Kensington Palace spokesperson released a statement, saying, “I can confirm The Prince and Princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
Buckingham Palace has so far not commented publicly on the latest Epstein documents.
Charles, as well as his wife Queen Camilla and younger brother Prince Edward, have each faced questions about the Epstein documents from onlookers at public engagements over the past week.
