Human rights chief calls for progress on abolishing death penalty as executions mark 30-year halt

National Human Rights Commission of Korea Chairman Ahn Chang-ho said Saturday that South Korea must take the debate over abolishing capital punishment to the next level, marking the 24th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Ahn issued a statement on the occasion, noting that South Korea has not carried out an execution since Dec. 30, 1997, and that next year will mark three decades since the last execution.

"The past 30 years of experience go beyond a mere 'suspension of punishment' — they are a precious asset that has demonstrated we can maintain social safety and a stable criminal justice system without actually carrying out the ultimate penalty," Ahn said. "The time has now come, building on that experience, to take the discussion on whether to formally abolish capital punishment by law one step further."

He said the global trend toward abolition continues to gain momentum.

According to Amnesty International, as of the end of last year, 145 countries — three-quarters of all nations — had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.

Ahn said that any debate on capital punishment must give serious weight to the suffering of victims of violent crime and their families, as well as the public's desire to live in a society safe from crime.

However, he said it is necessary to distinguish between guaranteeing the rights of victims and their families and strengthening the social safety net on one hand, and the question of whether the state should maintain a system that takes human life as punishment on the other. He cited the irreversibility of capital punishment — once carried out, no subsequent legal process can undo it.

Ahn went on to say that "the government and the National Assembly should review the legislative and institutional direction for abolishing the death penalty, drawing on our society's accumulated experience, international human rights standards, and perspectives on protecting crime victims and ensuring public safety," adding that South Korea should also pursue joining the UN's Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which calls for abolition of the death penalty.