Justice Ministry officials said that more than 40 prisoners...

Justice Ministry officials said that more than 40 prisoners on death row were to have their terms lightened to life sentences in honor of "National Liberation Day." Anti-capital punishment activists hailed the proposed reduction of the death sentences for some "exemplary prisoners." They said that it signalated that Korea could live without the death penalty. "Abolishing the death penalty is a global trend. I welcome the commutation," said lawyer Lee Sang-hyuk, who has led the nation's anti-death penalty movement for over 10 years. The impending pardon was to mark the second time that South Korea commuted the death sentences of a group of condemned criminals. The death penalty for five death-row inmates was lowered to life in prison for the first time in the Liberation Day amnesty in 1999.