Ministry of Justice to Promote "Life Imprisonment Without Parole"... Strict Response to Heinous Crimes

The Ministry of Justice announced on the 4th that it is "considering introducing a 'life sentence without parole' into the Criminal Act to strictly respond to heinous crimes."

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the morning of the same day, the Ministry of Justice stated in a press release, "Referring to legislative examples in countries such as the United States, where life sentences without parole coexist with the death penalty, we plan to introduce a life sentence without parole into the Criminal Act regardless of the Constitutional Court's decision on the retention or abolition of the death penalty." This move appears to be in response to growing public anxiety over heinous crimes following recent knife attacks targeting random citizens at Sillim Station in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, and a department store in Seohyeon-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

Currently, South Korea is classified as a "de facto abolitionist country" regarding the death penalty. No executions have been carried out since December 3, 1997. The Constitutional Court is preparing for its third ruling on the death penalty. The previous two rulings upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty. If the Constitutional Court declares unconstitutional provisions such as Article 41, Clause 1 of the Criminal Act, which defines the death penalty as a type of punishment, or Article 250, Paragraph 1, which stipulates the death penalty for murder, some death row inmates could be resentenced to life imprisonment through retrials. This is the background for calls to introduce a life sentence without parole amid the current situation where the death penalty has become ineffective.

According to the '2023 Correctional Statistics Yearbook' recently released by the Ministry of Justice, among the total 34,475 inmates last year, 55 (0.2%) were death row inmates, and 1,313 (0.8%) were sentenced to life imprisonment. The number of life-sentenced prisoners granted parole has recorded double digits annually since 2017. Under current law, life imprisonment inmates become eligible for parole after serving 20 years and if they are deemed to have clearly repented their crimes.

Earlier, Minister Han expressed agreement with the introduction of a life sentence without parole during the full session of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 26th of last month. In response to a question from Assemblyman Jo Jung-hoon of the Transition Korea party regarding the death penalty, he said, "The death penalty is an area that requires philosophical consideration," and added, "(The Constitutional Court's) decision on the unconstitutionality of the death penalty is imminent. Our society must find a way forward after the decision." He further stated his support for introducing a life sentence without parole into the Criminal Act, calling it "a meaningful option that can be seriously considered" and emphasizing the need for "a method to permanently isolate monsters that society cannot tolerate." The People Power Party and the government recently held a closed-door party-government meeting and decided to pursue the establishment of a life sentence without parole, beginning to gather opinions on the matter.

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