Infanticide and Abandonment Punishable by 'Maximum Death Penalty'... Criminal Law Amendment Bill Passed in National Assembly Plenary Session

by Oh Jooyean

Published 18 Jul.2023 14:37(KST)

Updated 18 Jul.2023 15:40(KST)

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A revision to the Criminal Act that strengthens the penalties for infant murder and abandonment to the level of general murder and abandonment offenses passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 18th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the afternoon of the same day, the National Assembly approved the amendment containing these provisions in the plenary session.

The existing law imposed lighter penalties for killing or abandoning infants compared to general murder charges. Under the Criminal Act, general murder is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for five years or more, and killing a family member is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for seven years or more, whereas infant murder was punishable by "imprisonment for up to 10 years." Additionally, general abandonment and abandonment of family members are punishable by "imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 5 million won" and "imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 15 million won," respectively, but infant abandonment was limited to "imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to 3 million won."

The infant murder offense was established based on the chaotic security situation after liberation and the extreme hardship around the time of the Korean War, and it has been consistently pointed out that it does not fit the changed times. Furthermore, while killing a family member is punished severely, treating infant murder lightly may violate the constitutional principle of equality and has been criticized for unduly disregarding the right to life of infants. Recently, with a series of related crimes such as the "Suwon Refrigerator Infant Corpse Case," legislation has accelerated rapidly.

This amendment abolishes the offenses of infant murder and infant abandonment, and going forward, infant murder and abandonment will be subject to the punishment provisions for general murder and abandonment offenses, respectively.