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Kim Hyeong-tae (third from right)

“The capital punishment system treats criminals not as human beings capable of moral reflection and improvement, but simply as a means of defending society. If the aim were to permanently segregate criminals to protect society, that could certainly be achieved through life imprisonment or penal servitude without the possibility of parole, which represent less of a restriction on basic rights.”

The capital punishment abolition subcommittee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) justice and peace committee submitted a Constitutional appeal on Feb. 12 against the death penalty. In a press conference the same day before the Constitutional Court in Seoul’s Anguk neighborhood, chairman of the subcommittee and Duksu Law Offices President Kim Hyeong-tae presented the reasons for the death penalty’s abolition. Also present was justice and peace committee chairman Bishop Constantine Bae Ki-hyen, who urged the Constitutional Court to conduct a sincere review.

The Catholic Church has collected 102,517 signatures to date in a campaign launched at individual churches nationwide last December to request legislation abolishing capital punishment and imposing life imprisonment instead.

The figure behind the Constitutional appeal request is an individual (identified by the initial “K”) who was sentenced to lifetime penal servitude by the first criminal division of the Bucheon branch of Incheon District Court last December after being arrested and indicted for parricide. Kim Hyeong-tae, who previously chaired the Catholic Church’s human rights committee, assisted K in submitting a constitutionality review recommendation and Constitutional appeal request. The court ruling on K’s case last year rejected a recommendation for a review of the death penalty’s constitutionality, arguing that capital punishment serves as the “strongest deterrent against crime.”

Kim stressed, “All individuals’ lives possess the same value, and that life is of absolute significance to each individual.”

“It is no different even for criminals who have committed atrocious acts that violate and harm the life and human rights of others,” he insisted.

Kim also noted, “While the Constitutional Court has ruled the capital punishment system constitutional in the past, the number of opinions finding it unconstitutional has risen from 7-to-2 in 1996 to 5-to-4 in 2010, and many of the Constitutional Court justices have stated their belief that the death penalty should be abolished in confirmation hearings during their candidacy.”

“With two-thirds of South Koreans stating in a National Human Rights Commission of Korea survey last year that they support abolishing the death penalty provided that an alternative form of punishment is introduced, we look forward to a wise decision from the Constitutional Court,” he said.

By Cho Hyeon, religion correspondent

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