Seoul, February 25: A top court ruled Thursday that capital punishment is constitutional in South Korea, which last sent a convict to the gallows in 1997.
“Capital punishment is not a breach of the constitution,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement after a five-to-four decision by its judges.
It was ruling on a 2008 petition filed by a provincial appeal court at the request of a 72-year-old fisherman convicted of multiple murders.
The death penalty “is a legal punishment that can deter crime for the sake of the public”, the statement said.
The justice ministry could not say whether the ruling clears the way for hangings. “I don’t think there is anyone within the government who can say for sure whether executions will resume or not,” a spokesman said.
The same court in 1996 had upheld capital punishment as constitutional. The last executions were in 1997 when 23 people were hanged within a short period under then-president Kim Young-Sam.
There has been an unofficial moratorium since February 1998 when President Kim Dae-Jung — himself sentenced to death in 1980 under a military government but later pardoned — took office.
In 2007 Amnesty International described South Korea as having “virtually abolished capital punishment”.
Currently 59 convicts are on death row, including two Chinese nationals convicted of robbery and murder and two notorious serial killers.
Another serial killer, Chung Nam-Kyu, committed suicide in his cell in November, sparking debate on whether the penalty should be formally abolished.
“They have no plans to abolish capital punishment. Life is but a floating cloud,” Chung said in a suicide note before hanging himself.
—Agencies