Hong Joon-pyo, former Daegu mayor and a presidential contender in the conservative People Power Party’s primary, pledged to resume executions under capital punishment for violent criminals if elected, as stated in a press release Friday.
While South Korea maintains the death penalty system, it has not carried out an execution since 1997. Hong further vowed to root out corrupt politicians and what he called “legal cartels” as part of efforts to restore the rule of law.
The pledge is part of his “100+1 National Grand Reform for an Advanced Nation” plan, released Tuesday, with a focus on social, educational and cultural reform.
In the plan, Hong also expressed opposition to the proposed antidiscrimination law and named low birth rates, abortion, divorce, sex crimes, LGBTQ+ and drugs as Korea's social problems to be solved, while criticizing the spread of radical feminism and political correctness as encroaching on "family-centered" community.
He instead called for a return to traditional values through “familism,” which he said would connect disintegrated society through restoring the role of the family and home.
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