December 29, 2022
Yoon Suk-yeol
President of the Republic of Korea
CC.
Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-Pyo
National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
President of the Constitutional Court Yoo Nam-seok
Constitutional Court of Korea
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo
Office for Government Policy Coordination / Prime Minister’s Secretariat
Foreign Minister Park Jin
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon
Ministry of Justice
Re: Republic of Korea’s moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty
Dear Mr. President,
We welcome the Republic of Korea’s vote in favor of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s resolution 77/222 on December 15, 2022, which called upon states that maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing capital punishment and to consider acceding to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. We take this opportunity to renew our calls on the Republic of Korea to take further steps towards the complete abolition of the death penalty for all crimes.
The global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty is clear. At the end of 1997, when the Republic of Korea carried out its last execution, there were 102 countries that had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. [1] By the end of 2007, when the Republic of Korea became an abolitionist country in practice, the number of countries that had abolished the death penalty in law or practice jumped to 134. [2] By 31 December 2021, that number further increased to 144. [3]
This global trend is reflected in the voting patterns at the UN General Assembly. In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 62/149, the first ever biennial resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty, by a 106-46 vote, with 34 abstentions. [4] In December 2020, the Republic of Korea for the first time joined the growing number of countries that supported the UN General Assembly resolution with its vote in favor of resolution 75/183, [5] adopted by a 123-38 vote, with 24 abstentions. Earlier this month, resolution 77/222 [6] was adopted by an all-time high of 125 votes in favor, with 37 votes against and 22 abstentions.
We recall that the use of the death penalty is inconsistent with the Republic of Korea’s international legal obligation to respect fundamental human rights, including the right to life. With 59 persons still on the death row, including one who has been under death sentence since November 1993, the Republic of Korea may also be in breach of its international legal obligation to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. UN human rights experts have recently reiterated that the “death row phenomenon” (the psychological effects on prisoners of being on death row for a prolonged period while awaiting an imminent execution under harsh conditions of confinement) has long been characterized as a form of inhuman treatment. [7]
We also note that lawmakers have proposed bills to abolish the death penalty in every session of the National Assembly, including the current one, since 1999. [8] The Constitutional Court twice upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment by a 7-2 vote in 1996, and by a 5-4 vote in 2010. However, it now has the opportunity to declare the death penalty unconstitutional in a case pending before it, and to pave the way for its abolition.
We respectfully call on you to immediately take the following steps to make progress towards the abolition of capital punishment, in keeping with the Republic of Korea’s support for the UN General Assembly’s biennial resolution:
– Declare an official moratorium on executions.
– Commute all death sentences to prison terms.
– Repeal or amend all laws that prescribe the death penalty for various criminal offenses, with a view to abolishing capital punishment for all crimes.
– Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
We also urge the Republic of Korea to stop the extradition or refoulement of persons to countries that retain the death penalty - including the United States, Japan, China, [9] and North Korea [10] - as they could be in danger of being subjected to the death penalty.
We thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely yours,
Alice Mogwe
President, FIDH
Ethan Hee-Seok Shin
Legal Analyst, Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)