hankyoreh

“I’ve lived today, so I want to live another day.”

So wrote a man by the name of Kang Sun-cheol, in a diary entry a few days before his execution on December 30, 1997, expressing his earnest desire to live. Fully drunk, he had gone with a friend into a clothing factory where he assaulted the seamstresses and then set the place ablaze. One employee died in the fire.

Kang was arrested while peacefully sleeping at home. He was unable to remember what had happened in the night, and insisted on his innocence. The court found him guilty, however, and sentenced him to death. The friend said it had been Kang who had set the fire, and got his sentenced reduced to life. There were some people who campaigned to have his life spared, arguing that it was possible that he had not been the perpetrator, but it was no use.

The end of this year marks the 10th anniversary of the execution of Kang and 22 others sentenced to death. Since then, still others have been issued death sentences, and currently there are 64 individuals awaiting execution. The executive branch of government has, since 1998, chosen not to give the approval necessary to carry out those sentences. It has been right to do so. One man, Kim Dae-jung, who was at one point in his life sentenced to hang, was later elected president. Could there be a clearer example of what the problems with capital punishment are?

Ultimately the decisions of the judicial system are made by people, and decisions by human beings can never be perfect. If someone is executed for having been found guilty and sentenced to die, there is no way to reverse that decision once the action has been carried out. Some people think that capital punishment needs to be kept around for perpetrators of particularly heinous crimes. However, if you look at studies of societies where it has been abolished, capital punishment does not especially have the effect of preventing heinous criminal acts. You question whether taking someone’s life because that person is a criminal is something that can be justified. It is for reasons such as these that some 90 countries have already completely done away with it, and close to 60 have more have moratoriums of one sort or another.

If Korea continues not to carry out executions for another one hundred days, it becomes classified by international organizations as a country that has essentially done away with this form of punishment. The last two administrations have tried in their own ways to have it abolished. We do not think the current administration will suddenly decide to have any executions carried out. It is time the National Assembly finish the job by legislating it out of existence. During the last National Assembly, more than half of the body’s members signed a bill that was never dealt with, proposing that capital punishment be abolished, and 175 legislators in the current 17th National Assembly have joined in proposing a similar bill. The year before last, the Assembly held a public hearing on the matter and since then has gotten nowhere on actually considering the bill as potential legislation. This time there must be no leaving the matter to yet another National Assembly.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]