Tag: death penalty

I would be surprised if South Korea brings back the death penalty, but I have no sympathy for these two criminals if they do:

A series of atrocious crimes of late are once again sparking debate over capital punishment. 

South Korea is classified as “abolitionist in practice,” which means that the government retains the death penalty but has not actually executed a criminal in the past 10 years or longer. The last execution here took place Dec. 31, 1997, when 23 convicted of murder were hanged. 

However, the issue has been brought to the fore again following the homicide of a 20-month-old toddler by her stepfather in June and the murder of two women last month by a sex offender who removed his electronic monitoring anklet while on parole. 

The 29-year-old stepfather, identified as Yang, allegedly covered the baby girl with blankets because she would not stop crying and punched and stomped her to death. Furthermore, the parents hid the baby’s body in an ice box in their bathroom.

The crime has drawn public rage especially because Yang allegedly raped and sexually assaulted the toddler, according to autopsy results and the mother’s testimony. 

In the other case, a man surnamed Kang, who had 14 previous convictions, was released from prison in May after serving 15 years for sexual assault, but last Friday and Sunday he killed two women, one of whom was murdered after he destroyed his monitoring anklet.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if this death sentence is actually ever carried out:

A South Korean soldier who shot dead five of his colleagues and injured seven others has been sentenced to death by a military court.

The sergeant opened fire in June 2014 at his post near the North Korean border and fled, sparking a manhunt.

He was captured two days later after he shot himself during a tense stand-off with troops.

It reignited debate on military culture in South Korea, where all males must do about two years military service.

The conscript’s attack had previously been attributed by a defence ministry spokesman to his “difficulties in adapting to military life”.

He had been placed on a list of conscripts requiring special attention.

In July last year, the military completed its investigation into the incident and said the attack, at a post near the border town of Goseong, was in revenge for bullying in the army and at school.  [BBC via reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but no one on death row in South Korea has been executed since 1997.