South Korea
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · According to a survey released in 1999 by Gallup Korea,...
- News items in the archive
- 254
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
South Korea is classified as Abolitionist de facto in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 254 news items on South Korea, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MAY 12, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREAN MAN GETS DEATH FOR STABBING SPREE
a South Korean court sentenced a man to death for killing six people in a stabbing spree in 2008, according to Seoul Central District Court spokesman Kwon Tae-hyung.
- APRIL 23, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR KIDNAP-MURDER COMMUTED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
a Seoul appeals court in South Korea commuted the death sentence of a man issued in January to life imprisonment.
- APRIL 23, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: KANG APPEALS AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE
Kang Ho-soon lodged an appeal with a South Korean High Court against the death sentence imposed on him for murder a day earlier, court officials said.
- APRIL 21, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
S KOREAN SERIAL KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH
a South Korean court handed down a death sentence to a masseur convicted of killing 10 people, including his wife and mother-in-law, an official said.
- MARCH 13, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: CRIMINAL LAW PROFESSORS DENOUNCE DEATH PENALTY
a total of 132 criminal law professors in South Korea, including Professor Han In- seop of Seoul National University, issued a joint statement in opposition to the government enforcing capital punishment after 11 years with no executions.
- FEBRUARY 26, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: TOP COURT CONFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING CHILDREN
the South Korean Supreme Court handed down an appellate court's death penalty to Chung Sung-hyun on charges of kidnapping and murdering three people, including two children, between 2004 and 2007.
- FEBRUARY 22, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
64 PERCENT OF KOREANS BACK DEATH PENALTY
64 percent of South Koreans back the death penalty, according to a survey conducted on 3,000 people over the age of 19 by Hankook Research.
- FEBRUARY 13, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: AMNESTY URGES SEOUL AGAINST RESUMPTION OF DEATH PENALTY
the chief of Amnesty International (AI) asked South Korean President Lee Myung-bak not to resume the use of the death penalty...
- JANUARY 23, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: “GANGHWA STRANGLER” SENTENCED TO DIE FOR MURDERS
a court in Incheon, South Korea, issued a death sentence to a man identified only by his surname, Ha.
- JANUARY 1, 2009South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
Capital punishment is provided for 103 crimes:
Capital punishment is provided for 103 crimes:
- NOVEMBER 20, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
S KOREA ABSTAINS IN UN VOTE ON ENDING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
South Korea abstained from voting on a UN resolution to end the death penalty worldwide...
- OCTOBER 31, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
VATICAN URGES SOUTH KOREA TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
during a recent visit to South Korea, a high-ranking Vatican official asked the prime minister, a Catholic, to abolish the country's death penalty. "
- OCTOBER 10, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
HELPING SOUTH KOREA ON ITS SLOW PROGRESS TOWARDS ABOLITION
on World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition took part in a South Korean event aimed at bringing lawmakers closer to the abolition of capital punishment.
- OCTOBER 3, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF DEATH PENALTY TO BE REVIEWED
in South Korea a provincial court has challenged the constitutionality of the current law
- JUNE 18, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
S KOREA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
a provincial court in South Korea sentenced a convicted kidnapper and murderer of two girls and a woman to death.
- MAY 9, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: MILITARY MAY ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER OF SUPERIORS
the South Korean government is seeking to revise the country's military penal code that imposes the death penalty for the murder of one's superior, sources said.
- MAY 7, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. SOLDIER GETS DEATH PENALTY
a military court of appeal upheld for a second time the death sentence on
- APRIL 3, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF MARINE
a South Korean man was sentenced to death in a court-martial for killing a South
- APRIL 1, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. DEATH PENALTY SOUGHT FOR SEX CRIMES AGAINST KIDS
people who commit sexual assaults against children under 13 and kill them will
- FEBRUARY 20, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. FISHERMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
a 71 year old fisherman, identified only by the surname Oh, charged with
- JANUARY 16, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA: NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER ACQUITTED 47 YEARS AFTER EXECUTION
a young newspaper publisher in South Korea who was executed in the early 1960s for collaborating...
- JANUARY 1, 2008South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
Capital punishment is provided for 103 crimes:
Capital punishment is provided for 103 crimes:
- DECEMBER 31, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA PARDONS SIX ON DEATH ROW
in South Korea, six inmates on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment
- DECEMBER 30, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA MARKS 10-YEAR MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY
South Korea marked its 10-year moratorium on the death penalty as activists called for the
- DECEMBER 18, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
South Korea abstained on the Resolution...
South Korea abstained on the Resolution...
- NOVEMBER 29, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. AUTOMATIC DEATH PENALTY RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
the South Korean law that automatically gives the death penalty to any soldier
- NOVEMBER 22, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. DEATH PENALTY CRIME STATUTE UPS TO 25 YEARS
the statute of limitations for crimes that are punishable by the death sentence in South Korea is likely to be extended to 25 years.
- OCTOBER 11, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
EX-LEADER URGES SKOREA TO SCRAP DEATH PENALTY
former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was once held on death row, urged his country to abolish capital punishment.
- OCTOBER 10, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA CLOSE TO ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY 'IN PRACTICE'
South Korea will be declared as having abolished the death penalty "in practice"
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2007South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH KOREA. CAMPAIGN STARTS TO SCRAP DEATH PENALTY
Religious, human rights and civic groups called in South Korea