Peter Hodgkinson, British representative to the Council...

Peter Hodgkinson, British representative to the Council of the International League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, arrived in Soeul to meet with policy makers and discuss issues concerning capital punishment. Hodgkinson noted that not one condemned criminal had been executed in South Korea during the last five years and that President Kim Dae-jung, a Roman Catholic, advocated the abolition of the death penalty and had not authorized the execution of a death row inmate since 1998. "That's something showing that now Korean society should be prepared (for change)," Hodgkinson said.