» On February 2 in Guwoon-dong, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, the serial murder suspect known by his surname Kang retraces his steps at the site where he murdered one of seven women in January 2007.

Comments are emerging that the values and standards of human rights steadily advanced thus far in South Korean society may regress with calls for discussion of the death penalty and enacting of a law allowing the revelation of criminals’ appearance in cases of heinous crimes, following the arrest of a 39-year-old suspect identified by the surname Gang in connection with serial murders committed in southwestern Gyeonggi-do.

In a Cheong Wa Dae luncheon with Grand National Party lawmakers Monday, President Lee Myung-bak responded to some leading National Assembly members who presented the opinion that the death penalty should be upheld by telling them to discuss it with other party members, a participant relayed. This participant stated, “Before the luncheon, some leading figures referred to the incident and said, ‘It’s because our country hasn’t enforced the death penalty since 1997. It must be upheld,’ and the president said, ‘Go ahead and discuss it within the party.’” South Korea has not enforced the death penalty since December 1997 and is categorized by international human rights groups such as Amnesty International as a nation that has “effectively abolished the death penalty.”

The response of human rights groups, civic groups and experts has been incomprehension at the issue of a heinous crime spreading into a debate over whether the death penalty should be enforced. “It is the solidified consensus of the international community that there is no significant relationship between the death penalty and violent crime, and as such our nation as well has not actually enforced the death penalty in over ten years,” said Oh Chang-ik secretary-general of Citizens’ Solidarity for Human Rights. “It seems like the debate over enforcing the death penalty is coming up again out of rather spontaneous and emotional ideas,” Oh added. Oh is referring to the ideas that are borrowing strength from citizen outrage at terrible crimes, for example Internet posts on Daum’s Agora stating “Why isn’t Gang ○○ being executed?” and “I can’t believe we’re supposed to feed and provide a bed for wicked people,” and shaking the principles and values of human rights that have long built up in South Korean society.

The official opinion stated by the National Police Agency on Monday was that there is a “need to enact laws about publicly showing the faces (of criminals) in cases of brutal crimes.” Most newspapers and television stations revealed Gang’s face, and the mask was removed from his face at the crime scene investigation as well.

But after the revelation of Gang’s face and person, information about his children’s names and appearance swarmed over the Internet. Dong-A University Professor Hoh Il-tae said there is a legal foundation for establishing the revelation of criminals’ faces as unconstitutional.

Park Keun-yong, director of the crime monitoring team at the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, said, “Publicly revealing the faces of suspects in heinous crimes has no real benefit in (crime) prevention and presents a great possibility of secondary damages to the suspect’s family members, and the police know this full well.” Park added, “Under the policy trends of the Lee Myung-bak administration, which emphasizes what it calls ‘the rule of law,’ actions that set human rights back are inevitably repeated.”

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