Human rights watchdog issues warning over death penalty resumption

Seoul`s human rights watchdog on Wednesday expressed concern over growing calls in South Korea to resume use of the death penalty, which has been suspended for over a decade here, reported Yonhap news agency.



"South Korea needs to scrap the death penalty completely to become an advanced nation in terms of human rights protection," the National Human Rights Commission of Korea said in a statement.



"The commission is concerned about the resumption of the death penalty being discussed across society lately. South Korea would degenerate into a backward country in terms of rights protection if capital punishment is resumed," it said.



Alleged serial killer Kang Ho-sun, who confessed to having killed eight women over the past four years, has rekindled the decades-long debate on the use of the death penalty in the country.



South Korea has had a de facto moratorium placed on capital punishment since 1997.



The commission also urged the National Assembly and the government to make efforts to remove the punishment from the penal code. The commission recommended in 2005 that it be banned.



"A mature society does not obtain security by sacrificing human rights and human life," the watchdog said. "Prevention of vicious crimes and security of the people can be achieved not by the death penalty but by scientific investigation and tightened public security."



Amid the heated controversy, the Constitutional Court is expected to decide whether capital punishment is constitutional within this year. The high court ruled in 1996 that the penalty was acceptable in the Korean society.



There are still 58 inmates on death row in the country.