Korea’s human rights commission reasserts call to abolish death penalty

Posted on : 2009-02-19 13:46 KST Modified on : 2009-02-19 13:46 KST
Decision not to carry out the death penalty should not to be driven by temporary public opinion, NHRCK chair says
 Ahn kyung-whan. A recent serial murder case has led the NHRCK to revive its call for abolition of the death penalty.
Ahn kyung-whan. A recent serial murder case has led the NHRCK to revive its call for abolition of the death penalty.

Following a recent serial murder incident, the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea formally expressed concerns about calls for carrying out the death penalty.

In a statement made Wednesday in the name of the commission’s head, Ahn Kyung-hwan, the NHRCK noted that South Korea has been designated a “death penalty abolitionist state in practice” because it has not carried out the death penalty for more than a decade and that “Carrying out the death penalty means returning to a backwards state in terms of human rights.”

The commission also noted, “Preventing brutal crimes and ensuring safety can be achieved through scientific investigation and the establishment of a thorough public security system rather than through the simple prescription of the death penalty.” The statement called repeatedly for abolition of the death penalty, stating, “What we need now is not to carry out the death penalty, driven by temporary public opinion, but to improve into an advanced human rights nation by totally abolishing the death penalty.” The NHRCK formally recommended abolition of the death penalty to the state in April 2005.

Citing the draft resolution for a “moratorium on the use of the death penalty” adopted by the United Nations in 2007 and a recommendation for the abolition of the death penalty by the UN Human Rights Committee, the NHRCK called abolition of the death penalty a “trend in international society that cannot be defied.” With its draft resolution, the UN declared that the abolition of the death penalty would not result in any serious changes to society, and that maintaining the death penalty is of no help at all in preventing terrorism and crimes.

An “emergency debate for the abolition of the death penalty” was held at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building on Wednesday morning, with participation from members of the Seoul National University Center for Public Interest & Human Rights, the Catholic Human Rights Committee, the Korean Association for the Abolition of the Death Penalty System, and other groups. At the debate, novelist Kong Ji-young said, “Murders are not reduced and heinous crimes do not drop through the maintenance of the death penalty system, and it cannot be a solution for humans to condemn other humans.”

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

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