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 formal abolition of capital punishment.
About 50 activists released 64 doves, symbolising the prisoners on death row, before parliament, demanding the death penalty be removed from the criminal code.
No one has been executed in South Korea since December 30, 1997 but the death penalty remains on the books. A bill to end the practice has languished in parliament for years.
"One more thing is left to do, let parliament get rid of the relevant provisions from the laws, and let's join our hands to get this done," said Lee Sang-Hyck, a lawyer attending the ceremony. President-elect Lee Myung-Bak, a Christian elder of the conservative opposition Grand National Party, has said he would maintain the death penalty but use it with restraint.
Lee will replace Roh in February.