In South Korea, the Constitutional Court begins deliberations on abolishing the death penalty upon an appeal by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea. The country has a moratorium on the issue, not having hanged any death row inmate for the past 25 years.
Catholic bishops are arguing that South Korea’s justice system uses criminals as a “social shield for society”, in addition to the death penalty ultimately posing as an “invasion of human dignity and value.”
The latest hearing is a result of a 2019 appeal by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, on behalf of a prisoner convicted of murdering his parents. The constitutional court has reviewed the legality of the death penalty twice before, but the inclusion of liberal justices is raising hopes that it may rule in favor of complete abolition this time round. Neutral observers and anti-death penalty activists alike are in agreement that the public remains firmly in support of retaining the death penalty, even if it is not used.