Civil Society Organizations "Welcome the Death Penalty Abolition Bill Submitted to the National Assembly... Expect Complete Abolition"

Ahead of World Day Against the Death Penalty
Proposal of the "Special Act on Abolition of the Death Penalty"
"A Irreversible Trend Toward Death Penalty Abolition
Efforts Needed to Build Crime Prevention and Social Safety Nets"

On November 30 last year, in front of the Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, representatives from the Joint Conference of Religious, Human Rights, and Civic Groups for the Abolition of the Death Penalty held a lighting performance urging the abolition of the death penalty.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Ahead of the 19th "World Day Against the Death Penalty" on the 10th of this month, civil society organizations have expressed their welcome for the proposal of the "Special Act on the Abolition of the Death Penalty" submitted to the National Assembly and have repeatedly urged the abolition of the death penalty.

The Joint Conference of Religious, Human Rights, and Civic Organizations for the Abolition of the Death Penalty issued a statement on the 7th, saying, "We welcome the fact that the Special Act on the Abolition of the Death Penalty has been proposed for the ninth time in the history of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea during the 21st National Assembly," and added, "We hope that the 21st National Assembly will no longer delay and will completely abolish the death penalty in our country."

The Joint Conference stated, "No one denies that those who commit heinous crimes must face firm and appropriate punishment," but emphasized, "The reason we desire the abolition of the death penalty is that punishment for such heinous crimes should not be carried out by taking life as an act of revenge."

They further added, "When combining the 108 countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and the 36 countries that have effectively abolished it like our country, the number of death penalty abolition countries among the 193 UN member states reaches 144," and stated, "The abolition of the death penalty and the suspension of executions is already an irreversible trend."

They emphasized, "The Republic of Korea must now become not only a country that has effectively abolished the death penalty but also a country that has completely abolished it legally," and added, "More efforts should be devoted to improving the fundamental causes of crime, identifying structural contradictions, and establishing a social safety net to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place."

The bill, jointly proposed by Representative Lee Sang-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, contains provisions to abolish the death penalty stipulated in the Criminal Act and other laws and replace it with life imprisonment. Life imprisonment refers to life sentences and life imprisonment without parole, where the prisoner is detained in prison until death without the possibility of parole.

So far, a total of eight special bills to abolish the death penalty have been proposed from the 15th to the 20th National Assembly, but all were automatically discarded due to expiration of their terms without passing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The proposal of the death penalty abolition bill in the 21st National Assembly is the ninth attempt.

Since the last execution on December 30, 1997, South Korea has not carried out any executions, and Amnesty International has classified South Korea as a "de facto abolitionist country" since December 30, 2007.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.