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  1. #11
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    S. Korea pushing for official declaration on abolition of death penalty

    South Korea is pushing for a presidential declaration on the abolition of capital punishment, the state human rights watchdog said Monday, resuming efforts toward doing away with the long-disputed measure, in step with the growing international trend.

    "We are working to bring an announcement by President Moon Jae-in on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty around the time of this year's 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Shim Sang-don, chief of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)'s policy and education bureau, told reporters.

    Such a moratorium would be one step in the formal process toward abolition. The watchdog has started working-level discussion with the Ministry of Justice for action plans, Shim added.

    South Korea retains capital punishment as part of state-sanctioned practices for punishing serious crimes. But it has not carried out a death sentence on prisoners on death row since December 1997, nor has the country officially declared its discontinuance.

    The NHRC has maintained its stance in support of repealing the death penalty, citing international standards. The watchdog recommended its abolishment to the National Assembly in April 2005 and submitted a similar petition to the Constitutional Court in July 2009.

    Public opinion is largely in line with moves to abolish the measure, but failure to reach consensus on alternatives to replace it with has held back the move.

    Shim indicated that the situation may be different this time.

    "President Moon gave a positive response regarding abolition when we brought up the issue at the meeting last December," he said.

    The NHRC plans to hold a hearing on capital punishment in September and carry out research on the issue, with a focus on alternative measures.

    Data from correctional authorities show that there are currently a total of 61 prisoners, including military officers, that have been sentenced to death in South Korea.

    (source: Yonhap News)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    South Korea has 61 people currently on death row

    By Shin Min-jung
    HankYoreh

    South Korea currently has a total 61 people on death row, with 57 people in ordinary correctional facilities and 4 in military prisons.

    According to data that Democratic Party lawmaker Geum Tae-seop received from the Justice Ministry and made public on Oct. 15, the largest number of death-row convicts, or 16, are in the Seoul Detention Center, followed by Gwangju Prison (13), Daegu Prison (12), Daejeon Prison (12) and the Busan Detention Center (4).

    The majority of the death-row convicts detained at regular prisons were sentenced to death for murder. Of the 57, 49 were charged with murder (parricide or murder during a robbery). Of the remaining eight, three were convicted of sexual violence, such as rape and murder; two for arson, including arson causing death; and three for the kidnapping and murder of minors according to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

    Some of these detainees are vicious criminals whose acts horrified society. Yu Yeong-cheol, who killed 20 elderly people and women, and the members of the Makgapa gang, who kidnapped a woman and buried her alive, were all sentenced to death.

    The death-row convicts detained in military prisons were sentenced according to the military criminal code on charges of murder or killing a superior officer. These four include a private surnamed Kim who killed eight soldiers with grenades and firearms in 2005 after being mistreated in his barracks at an outpost in the front line in Gangwon Province and a sergeant surnamed Lim who shot and killed five people in 2014 after being the victim of group bullying at a base in Goseong County, Gangwon Province.

    The longest-serving death-row convict is a 61-year-old individual surnamed Won whose death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Nov. 1993 and who has been on death row for 25 years. The most recent addition to death row was Lim, the sergeant, whose sentence was confirmed in 2016.

    Ten death-row convicts have died since South Korea carried out its last execution on Dec. 30, 1997. Five of those convicts died of disease, while the other five ended their own life. Jeong Nam-gyu, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 individuals, was so afraid of being executed that he hung himself at the Seoul Detention Center in 2009 at the age of 40.

    In 2015, another death-row convict surnamed Lee died two days after he tried to hang himself in prison at the age of 51. Lee had been sentenced to death in 1999 after murdering four family members of his creditors, who he said had been harassing him to pay back his debts.

    http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/engli...al/866061.html

  3. #13
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    S. Korean Court Declares Death Sentence on Killer Schizophrenic

    By KBS World News

    A South Korean court has handed down a death sentence to a schizophrenic man who killed five people and injured 17 others in an arson and murder case in the southern part of the country early this year.

    The Changwon District Court in South Gyeongsang Province on Wednesday sentenced Ahn In-deuk to death after a nine-member civil jury participating in the criminal trial unanimously agreed that he was guilty. Eight of the jurors concluded that he deserved the death penalty while one other person called for life imprisonment.

    The court said that although Ahn’s failure to get proper treatment for his mental condition contributed to the tragic incident, it cannot relieve his responsibility for the heinous crimes. The court noted his meticulous premeditation and the suffering he inflicted on the victims and their bereaved family members.

    The court also cited no risk of misjudgment, a lack of repentance on the suspect’s part and the high likelihood that he could commit similar crimes again to justify the ruling.

    The court said it hoped that the decision would not trigger prejudice and hatred toward mentally-ill people and instead lead to institutional revisions for the treatment of mental illnesses.

    In April, the 42-year-old Ahn set fire to his home on the fourth floor of an apartment in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province and wielded knives at residents who were evacuating from the fire.

    http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_...eq_Code=149652
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
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    Child abuse can now lead to death penalty in South Korea

    Punishment for sexual exploitation of teenagers also gets stronger

    By Shin Ji-hye
    koreaherald.com

    South Korea is strengthening punishment for child abuse amid a growing number of cases, with the recent revision of a child abuse law now making the death penalty a possibility.

    On Friday lawmakers passed a bill at the plenary session of the National Assembly to revise a law dealing with penalties for child abuse, making it possible for child abusers to be convicted of murder even if they did not intend to cause death.

    The amendment, called the Jeong-in Act, is named after a 16-month-old girl who died after allegedly being abused by her adoptive parents.

    Under the revised law, those who abuse children and unintentionally cause death can face the death penalty or imprisonment for seven years to life.

    As it stands now, if a child is killed during abuse, the perpetrator can be sentenced to five years to life.

    The bill passed amid growing calls for tougher punishment after a number of high-profile cases where children died of abuse. The number of child abuse reports is increasing every year, having nearly tripled from 11,700 in 2015 to 30,000 in 2019.

    But it was not approved unanimously. Among the 254 lawmakers who attended the plenary session, 252 voted in favor, one voted against and one abstained.

    Rep. Kim Woong of the main opposition People Power Party, who voted against the bill, said, “Tragedies like Jeong-in’s case will not be solved simply by raising the sentence.” Criminals commit crimes even if they know the consequences, the former prosecutor argued.

    Kim blamed Jeong-in’s death on negligence of duty and violations of regulations by the police, saying the so-called Jeong-in Act lacked any mechanism to address those problems.

    On the same day, multiple bills were passed that toughened punishments for crimes against teenagers.

    Lawmakers passed a revised bill that deals with “grooming” -- luring children or teenagers online to exploit them sexually.

    The revision to the Youth Protection Act provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won ($26,642) for repeated online conversations or sexual activities that cause sexual desire, shame or disgust.

    The statute of limitations was abolished for crimes involving the production, export and import of content made by sexually exploiting children or adolescents.

    To investigate online sex crimes against children and adolescents, the police will be allowed to disguise their identities. But undercover investigations cannot last for more than three months and must be immediately terminated if their purpose is achieved sooner.

    http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210228000132

  5. #15
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    Prosecutors seek death penalty for murder suspect

    By Yonhap

    State prosecutors on Monday requested that the judiciary sentence a murder suspect to death for killing three women of the same family in March.

    The suspect, Kim Tae-hyun, 24, was indicted on five counts of criminal charges, including murder, housebreaking and harassment in April.

    He was arrested at the victims' home in northeastern Seoul on March 25, where he allegedly killed a woman whom he had stalked, her mother and younger sister two days earlier.

    In the closing arguments at the Seoul Northern District Court on Monday, the prosecutors said, "There is no room for consideration of punishment other than death sentence for the accused," as he "premeditated his crimes," and showed "extreme disregard for human life" and "no serious remorse" over his "ruthless murders."

    The suspect said his "heart ached for the victims" and apologized to them.

    Kim disguised himself as a deliveryman to enter their home and killed the youngest woman who was there at that time. After killing her, he waited for the other two to come home and stabbed them to death when they arrived, police said.

    He claimed that he got to know the woman through an online game last year, and that he committed the killings out of a grudge as she would not meet him and stopped communicating with him. (Yonhap)

    http://m.koreaherald.com/amp/view.php?ud=20210913000839
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  6. #16
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    Court hands down rare death sentence for man found guilty in double murder case

    By The Korean Times

    A district court imposed a rare death sentence on a 53-year-old man, Thursday, after he was found guilty of killing a woman for money in December last year, and then also murdering an accomplice.

    The man, Kwon Jae-chan, was charged with robbery and corpse abandonment in the double murder case after allegedly strangling the 50-something female acquaintance to death at a building in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, Dec. 4.

    He used her credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM and stole her jewelry while the woman's body was kept inside the trunk of a car.

    The following day, Kwon murdered and buried a 40-something male accomplice on a hill near Eulwangri Beach on Yeongjong Island off the coast of Incheon.

    Delivering the capital punishment, the Incheon District Court pointed out Kwon appeared to have no possibility of reformation and showed no signs of serious repentance.

    "Recovery of humanity cannot be expected from the accused," the court said, adding it was giving the death penalty to hold him accountable and prevent the recurrence of a similar crime.

    Kwon was also order to wear a tracking device for 30 years.

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nat...13_331562.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    S. Korean court to consider constitutionality of death penalty for first time in 12 years

    By Shin Min-jung
    Hank Yoreh

    South Korea’s death penalty is being taken before the Constitutional Court for the first time in 12 years.

    This is the third time the court has reviewed the death penalty, after a 1996 ruling that found it constitutional by a margin of 7-2 and another 2010 ruling that affirmed its constitutionality with a 5-4 decision.

    The constitutional petition was filed in February 2019 by the capital punishment abolition subcommittee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CDCK) Committee for Peace and Justice. The petitioner was an individual surnamed Yun, for whom prosecutors requested the death penalty in a first trial on charges of parricide.

    The Constitutional Court is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 2 pm on July 14 to discuss the death penalty. In an unusual step, the court announced plans to select a law and economics professor as a witness in order to consider the death penalty’s socioeconomic effects as a basis for its decision.

    Does Article 110-4 of S. Korea’s Constitution recognize the death penalty?

    The focus of the court’s review will be on Article 110-4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. That provision states, “Military trials under an extraordinary martial law may not be appealed [. . .] except in the case of a death sentence.”

    The previous constitutional hearings in 1996 and 2010 concerned provisions in the Criminal Act, including Article 250 which states, “A person who kills another shall be punished by death.”

    Article 110-4 is the only part of the Constitution that mentions the death penalty specifically. Those arguing the penalty’s constitutionality cite it as evidence that the Constitution recognizes the death penalty. Opponents counter that it is too much of a stretch to view the mere reference to the death penalty as a basis for its constitutionality.

    At the time of the 1996 constitutionality petition, Justice Kim Chin-woo shared a minority opinion finding the death penalty unconstitutional, concluding that the provision in question “merely establishes exceptions to the system of single trials without appeal, in view of the severity of the infringement of basic rights presented by a death sentence.”

    Where does S. Korea’s death penalty stand today?

    According to figures shared by the Ministry of Justice in 2009, a total of 920 death sentences were carried out in South Korea between the government’s establishment in 1948 and the last execution to date on Dec. 30, 1997.

    Over half of those executed — 562 out of 920 — were convicted of “heinous crimes” including homicide and robbery-homicide. Another 254 were convicted of “ideological crimes,” including violations of the National Security Act and Anti-Communism Act.

    The latter group includes eight victims of the People’s Revolutionary Party Reconstruction Committee case, who were executed 18 hours after their death sentences were upheld in 1975. Those individuals were posthumously acquitted in a 2007 retrial.

    A total of 59 South Koreans are currently facing a death sentence, including four incarcerated in military prison. The longest-serving of them is a 65-year-old surnamed Yun who has been imprisoned for 29 years since receiving the death penalty for setting fire to a religious establishment in 1992, causing the deaths of 15 people.

    The most recent court ruling upholding the death penalty took place in February 2016, in the case of a 30-year-old surnamed Im who shot and killed five colleagues during his military service.

    While death sentences have been periodically handed down, no actual executions have taken place in South Korea for over two decades. Amnesty International classifies South Korea as “abolitionist in practice.”

    While calls for the death penalty’s abolition had been gaining momentum, recent signs have pointed to a shift in the government’s stance.

    In 2020, the Ministry of Justice lent support to the international debate on abolishing capital punishment when it cast its first-ever vote in favor of a resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.

    But after the administration of then-President Moon Jae-in was replaced by that of current President Yoon Suk-yeol, the ministry submitted an opinion to the Constitutional Court stressing that a “country cannot be viewed as ‘regressive’ or ‘barbaric’ simply because it retains the death penalty,” which it said “does not violate the essential substance of the right to life.” In effect, it reaffirmed its basic support for keeping the penalty in place.

    Will the third ruling be different? Dismissal a possibility

    The first constitutional hearing on the death penalty in 12 years appears likely to include a discussion of its socioeconomic effects, which had not been treated as a key issue in previous hearings.

    For the public hearing on July 14, the court named as a witness Ko Hak-soo, a professor of law at Seoul National University and specialist in law and economics.

    In the US, where some states retain the death penalty and others have abolished it, empirical research has been conducted on the penalty’s crime deterrence effects and social and economic costs. Whereas the past discussions on the death penalty in the Korean court have been primarily philosophical, with a focus on its effects, the Constitutional Court appears to be preparing now to consider its efficacy from the standpoint of empirical research.

    Analysts are divided in their predictions of what ruling the court will make. Those who expect the court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional are focusing on the majority of justices who are considered progressive.

    According to this prediction, the six or more votes needed for an unconstitutionality decision can be achieved if Justices Kim Ki-young and Lee Mi-son, who are seen as leaning progressive, join their fellow Justices Yoo Nam-seok, Lee Suk-tae, Lee Eun-ae, and Moon Hyung-bae, who more or less spoke in favor of abolishing the penalty during their confirmation hearings.

    Other observers suggested any predictions of the hearing’s outcome may be meaningless.

    “You can’t just predict that [a justice] will find something unconstitutional based solely on how they typically lean politically,” said one legal world source.

    “Matters like the death penalty are different in nature from political leanings, since they have to do with innermost values,” the source added.

    Some also predicted the case could end up dismissed for failing to meet the procedural requirements for a constitutional petition request. The petitioner listed for the petition, an individual surnamed Yun, received a life sentence rather than a death sentence.

    https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/engl...l/1049603.html
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  8. #18
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    Prosecutors to seek more death sentences for drug offenses against minors

    By Son Ji-hyoung
    The Korea Herald

    South Korea's top prosecutor on Monday pledged to stamp out drug-related crimes as Seoul seeks to impose increase capital punishment sentences for drug offenders who target minors

    The prosecution's proposal will be tabled at the Sentencing Commission of the Supreme Court of Korea in June, according to the commission dedicated to sentencing guidelines on Monday. If approved, the death sentence or life imprisonment could be imposed on a greater number of offenders who are convicted for supplying illegal drugs to or doing drugs with children and adolescents, as well as those who involved minors in drug trading.

    Under the current law, such offenders are subject to at least five years in prison and repeat offenders can face the death penalty. The new sentencing guidelines, however, could impose harsher punishments on more offenders and have more offenders detained while on trial.

    This will be part of the prosecution's fight to uproot drug crimes, especially those targeting children and adolescents, according to the prosecution chief.

    Without immediate action to address the upsurge in drug crimes, the situation would become "irreversible," Lee One-seok, prosecutor general of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, said in a meeting with 26 high-ranking prosecutors from 18 offices across the nation. The meeting at Supreme Prosecutors' Office headquarters in Seoul was designed to seek concerted efforts to fight the surging drug abuse especially among the young generation.

    Prosecutors are engaged in an uphill battle against drug crimes, he added, directing the blame at the former liberal President Moon Jae-in administration that moved to undermine prosecutors' power to probe drug crimes.

    "At the investigative front, we see more cases where we determine the eligibility of the drug crime investigation by the weight and value of confiscated drugs in a ridiculous fashion," Lee said.

    He cited the laws in 2021 to ban the prosecutors from probing into drug crimes involving illicit drugs that are less valuable than 5 million won ($3,790). The growing disparity in illegal drug prices paid by smugglers and final consumers is aggravating the situation, he also said.

    Moreover, the leniency in sentencing drug offenders has been seen as a main culprit behind the surge in drug crimes. According to data in April by the Supreme Court, less than half of the 5,468 district court rulings on drug offenders in 2021 ended up with jail sentences, as the proportion has been on a gradual decline in the past three years.

    This forced the prosecution service to seek a breakthrough with its nationwide reorganization. In the late 1980s, a restructuring of the prosecution helped Korea transition from an illicit drug-producing country to a drug-free country in the 1990s. The prosecution has earlier pledged to revive a drug crime investigation unit by separating it from the anti-corruption division by as early as the end of May, retracting the decision during the Moon administration.

    "We have a history of triumph against the drug crimes, so there is no doubt we could do so again," Lee said, quoting Adm. Yi Sun-shin, "If one person keeps to the path, it is enough to scare thousands of people."

    This comes as the number of drug offenders rose over 30 percent in five years to 18,395 in 2022. The number of those aged 19 or younger rose fourfold to 481 over the cited period.

    Separately, the Justice Ministry, the Education Ministry and the Family Ministry have joined forces in holding over 300 lectures in classrooms from March 20 until Thursday. More than 1,000 such lectures are to take place until the end of this year. The lectures are part of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's drug awareness campaign to help the young generation steer clear of illegal drugs, the Justice Ministry said Monday.

    https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230508000654

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