Religious and civic groups calling for a ban on capital...

Religious and civic groups calling for a ban on capital punishment are receiving crucial support from politicians as a group of lawmakers are seeking to launch a legislation movement to ban the death penalty.
Chyung Dai-chul of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) is heading the movement, which a total of 76 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties have already endorsed.
"We will submit the bill commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment after securing more lawmakers' signatures," said Chyung.
The lawmakers' move comes about 10 days after the nation's major religious groups - Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist - began a national "pan-religious anti-death penalty campaign."