Seoul, Feb 3 (IANS): A South Korean soldier Tuesday was sentenced to death for killing five unarmed comrades in a shooting rampage in June 2014.

A military court handed down the death penalty to the 23-year-old army sergeant, surnamed Lim, for detonating a grenade and firing at his comrades at an outpost close to the border with North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.

He was also found guilty of running away from his unit with a rifle and a stash of ammunition.

Two days later, he was captured while being under siege by thousands of troops right after a botched suicide attempt.

"Lim committed a tenacious and premeditated crime by killing even unarmed colleagues at the barracks. Capital punishment is inevitable for such a hideous crime that shot the innocent," the chief judge said in a verdict.

Military prosecutors last month demanded capital punishment for him on charges of murder and desertion, arguing that he committed a "cruel and premeditated attack" on his unarmed comrades.

South Korean courts hand down the death penalty, but there have been no executions since some two dozen convicts were put to death in late 1997.

Currently, some 60 convicts are on death row.