Statement by the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea on the World Day Against the Death Penalty
As Korea approaches 30 years without an execution, it is time to advance the legal and institutional debate on abolishing the death penalty
On 10 October 2026, the 24th World Day Against the Death Penalty, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Ahn Chang-ho) issues the following statement. It believes that Korean society, now nearly three decades without an execution, needs to move further with public deliberation and institutional review on the future of capital punishment.
The Republic of Korea has not carried out an execution since 30 December 1997, and next year will mark 30 years since executions stopped. The international community considers Korea to have achieved de facto abolition. It is classified as “abolitionist in practice”, which means it keeps the death penalty in law but has not used it for a long time.
Three decades of running the criminal justice system without executions mean more than a simple “suspension of the enforcement of a penalty.” They are a valuable asset. They show that society can stay safe and the criminal justice system can stay stable without the ultimate penalty ever being carried out. Building on this experience, it is now time to take the debate on whether to keep the death penalty in law a step further.
The global movement toward abolition also continues. According to Amnesty International, by the end of 2025, 145 countries had abolished the death penalty de jure or de facto. This is three quarters of all countries in the world, and 113 of them had abolished it completely for all crimes.
Since 2020, the Government of the Republic of Korea has consistently voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The Commission first expressed its view in favour of abolishing the death penalty in 2005 and has called for abolition consistently since then. In 2018, it recommended that the Government accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
At the same time, any discussion of capital punishment must give serious weight to the suffering of victims of violent crime and their families. It must also take into account the wish of nationals to live in a society that is safe from crime.
The State has an important responsibility to protect the lives and safety of people. It does this by giving victims of crime enough support to return to their daily lives, by preventing crime and by preventing recidivism. The debate on abolition must therefore not neglect the protection of victims or the safety of people. Nevertheless, guaranteeing the rights of victims and their families and strengthening social safety nets, and whether the State should keep a system that takes human life as a penalty are two different questions that should be examined separately.
Once an execution has been carried out, no later judicial process can reverse it. Because of this irreversibility, whether to keep or abolish capital punishment is about more than choosing how severe a penalty should be. It is also a question of where the legitimate limits of the State’s power to impose penalties lie.
In particular, any judgment made by human beings carries a risk of error. Korea’s own history includes tragic cases in which a miscarriage of justice was confirmed only after the executions had taken place. One example is the People’s Revolutionary Party Reconstruction Committee case: the people executed in 1975 were acquitted on retrial in 2007. The risk of an irreversible miscarriage of justice can never be treated as a secondary issue when discussing whether to keep or abolish capital punishment.
The Republic of Korea has now run its criminal justice system without executions for nearly a generation. Building on this experience, it is time for a serious debate on a choice. The country can keep the current state of de facto abolition, or it can carry it through into changes in law and institutions.
In this light, the Government and the National Assembly should examine the legislative and institutional path toward abolishing the death penalty. This should draw on the experience Korean society has built up, on international human rights standards, and on a range of perspectives on protecting victims of crime and keeping nationals safe. They should also pursue discussions on acceding to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
The Commission hopes that this World Day Against the Death Penalty will help society move beyond a repeated back-and-forth for and against capital punishment. It should instead be an occasion to look again at human dignity, the right to life and the limits of the State’s power to impose penalties, in light of the past 30 years. The Commission will continue to play its part in building a society where the dignity and right to life of every person are more fully respected.
10 October 2026
Ahn Chang-ho
Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of Korea
