South Korea One Step Closer To Abolishing The Death Penalty
GHRTV
17-07-2023
Vedran Muftic
East Asia Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
Last year in December, South Korea voted in favor of the United Nations’ General Assembly’s resolution 77/222 which called upon states that maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions [1]. The resolution is a preface to accede the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which aims to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. South Korea abstained from their vote in a previous resolution from 2007, UN General Assembly resolution 62/149 calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. The signing of last year’s resolution means that South Korea is one step closer to abolishing the death penalty.
South Korea is among many of the Asian nations that still retain the death penalty however, no executions have been carried out in South Korea since 1997. Despite being abolitionist in practice, death sentences are still being handed out. Last year 1 person was sentenced to death. As of 2023, a total of 60 people are sitting on death row [2], [3]. Even though abolition seems to be in close reach for the country, executions can technically still be carried out if the moratorium is lifted.
The last country in Asia to abolish the death penalty was Kazakhstan in 2021 after signing the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR in 2020. Executions were suspended in 2003, however similar to South Korea’s case, death sentences were still being handed out [4]. Life imprisonment, which was introduced in Kazakhstan in 2004 as an alternative punishment has now replaced all crimes stipulating the death penalty [5]. Before Kazakhstan, Mongolia abolished the death penalty in 2016 after its last execution in 2008 [6].
South Korea signing The United Nations’ General Assembly’s resolution 77/222 is an important stepping stone in the process of abolishing the death penalty. It is an indication that South Korea might be the next nation in Asia to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
References and further reading:
[1] South Korea: Open letter to the President on the abolition of the death penalty. (n.d.). International Federation for Human Rights. https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/south-korea/south-korea-open-letter-to-the-president-on-the-abolition-of-the
[2] South Korea: Open letter to the President on the abolition of the death penalty. (n.d.-b). International Federation for Human Rights. https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/south-korea/south-korea-open-letter-to-the-president-on-the-abolition-of-the
[3] Amnesty International. (2023, May 18). Death sentences and executions 2022 - Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/6548/2023/en/
[4] Al Jazeera. (2021, January 2). Kazakhstan scraps death penalty after nearly 20-year moratorium. Death Penalty News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/2/kazakhstan-abolishes-death-penalty-after-near-20-year-moratorium
[5] An end to the death penalty in Kazakhstan - The Sigrid Rausing Trust. (2022, September 20). The Sigrid Rausing Trust. https://www.sigrid-rausing-trust.org/story/an-end-to-the-death-penalty-in-kazakhstan/
