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Korean church leaders regret high court's backing of death penalty
26-02-2010
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -- The Constitutional Court has ruled that the death penalty is constitutional, dashing church hopes for an early repeal of capital punishment in South Korea.
"The court's decision is behind the times and world trends," John Kim Hyoung-tae, an attorney and chairman of the executive committee of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea's Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, told the Asian church news agency UCA News after the Feb. 25 ruling.
"Currently, 139 countries abolished the punishment in law or in practice and more countries are joining. The death penalty is the fundamental infringement of life and I don't understand how the justices ruled so," he said.
Capital punishment opponents immediately turned to the National Assembly to push for abolishing the death penalty. Five of the nine Constitutional Court justices upheld the death penalty while the other four said that it is unconstitutional. Six votes are needed before a law is ruled unconstitutional.
"The death penalty is one of the punishments expected in the criminal law," the majority judgment said.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20100225.htm
