Special Counsel Seeks 20-Year Term for Daegu Mayor in Martial Law Case
A special counsel team has asked a Seoul court to sentence Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho to 20 years in prison, alleging that he helped obstruct a parliamentary vote to end former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2024 martial law declaration.
SEOUL — A special counsel team on Wednesday asked the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho to 20 years in prison over his alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2024 martial law declaration.
Choo, who was floor leader of the then ruling People Power Party at the time, is accused of helping Yoon maintain martial law by impeding lawmakers’ efforts to gather for a parliamentary vote to terminate the emergency decree. The sentencing request was made during Choo’s trial in Seoul.
According to the allegations presented in court, Choo changed the location of an emergency party meeting three times on Dec. 3, 2024, after Yoon declared martial law. The special counsel maintains that the repeated venue changes were intended to prevent members of the National Assembly from participating in the vote to lift the decree.
The team led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk indicted Choo on charges that he played a key role in an insurrection. During the proceedings, a member of the investigative team argued that Choo had failed to perform a lawmaker’s constitutional responsibility to scrutinize and restrain the exercise of martial-law powers. The prosecutor further alleged that Choo instead chose to participate actively in the insurrection.
The request for a 20-year prison term is the prosecution’s proposed punishment and does not constitute a verdict. The court will determine whether Choo is guilty and, if so, what sentence should be imposed. The report did not specify when the court is expected to deliver its ruling.
The case places renewed attention on the conduct of senior governing-party officials during the martial law episode and on whether decisions made inside the party were designed to frustrate the National Assembly’s constitutional role. At the center of the trial is the prosecution’s claim that Choo’s control over the timing and location of the party meeting had practical consequences for lawmakers attempting to reach the chamber.
Choo is now serving as mayor of Daegu. His prosecution concerns actions allegedly taken while he held a national leadership position in the PPP, making the trial part of the broader legal reckoning over the 2024 emergency decree and the political response to it.