Special Counsel Seeks 5-Year Prison Term for Ex-President Yoon Over Alleged Cover-up

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team on Friday requested a five-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of helping a former defense minister evade a criminal investigation by appointing him as ambassador to Australia in 2023.

Special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon's team requested the sentence during the final hearing of Yoon's trial at the Seoul Central District Court on charges of aiding a criminal's flight and abuse of power.

The former president is accused of appointing former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia in November 2023 to help him evade an investigation into the alleged cover-up of a Marine's death earlier that year.

A central allegation in the cover-up case is that Yoon exerted pressure to reverse the findings of a Marine inquiry into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun to clear a Marine commander of responsibility. Chae died in July 2023 during an operation to rescue heavy rain victims in Yecheon, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Lee, who was the defense minister at the time, was found to have spoken by phone with Yoon in the process, and the special counsel team suspects the former president tried to send him abroad to prevent the investigation from targeting him as well.

During the hearing, the special counsel team also recommended three-year prison terms for former National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, and two-year terms for former First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin, former Vice Justice Minister Shim Woo-jung and former presidential secretary Lee Shi-won.

All five are accused of playing a role in the former defense minister's appointment and departure to Australia at Yoon's orders.

The former defense minister left for Australia in March 2024 to take office but returned days later due to the controversy.

"The defendants closed their eyes to the truth and, in order to send Lee Jong-sup as ambassador, performed a perfunctory vetting process while mechanically following procedures to lift the travel ban on him," a member of the special counsel team said. "This was not an individual and coincidental outcome but a systematic act of concealing the truth."

The team berated Yoon for "fully mobilizing state powers" for his personal and political aims ahead of parliamentary elections, saying he "flagrantly violated" the state's investigative authority.

The former president has been standing a total of eight trials in connection with his failed bid to impose martial law in 2024, his wife's alleged corruption and the case of the Marine's death.

The main trial on charges that he led an insurrection through his martial law bid is under way at an appellate court after a lower court sentenced him to life in prison in February.