Capital punishment in South Korea

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in South Korea. Presently, there is a moratorium in effect on executions by the state. The last execution took place in December 1997. As of 2013, there are at least sixty people in South Korea under a death sentence

On February 19, 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence passed on a man known by his surname 'Lim', a 24 year old conscripted Army sergeant who killed five fellow soldiers and injured seven others in a shooting rampage near the border with North Korea in 2014. He became the 61st person on death row in South Korea. According to Yonhap, of the 61 people on death row, four, including Lim, are soldiers.

Executions in Korea have existed since the Joseon Period. The purpose of executions was to cause reactions and stop crimes. Methods of executions included slow slicing, hanging, and dismemberment. Heads of executed people have always been used as warnings to others. Specifically, dismembered heads were displayed to the public both to serve as public warning and enforce military courtesy. However, bodies of executed people were allowed funeral proceedings.

In contemporary history, the first execution law was established on March 25, 1895 by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Japan acting under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan. The first death sentence was given 4 days later, on March 29, 1895 to Jeon Bongjun. Since 1948, a total of 902 people have been executed.

Currently, the Penal Code of South Korea regulates executions as a form of punishment for some crimes according to the Criminal Law section 41. Those crimes include: Rebellion (Section 87), Conspiracy with foreign countries (Section 92), homicide (Section 250), robbery-homicide (Section 338), and other 12 sections. People under 18 cannot be executed according to Juvenile Law (Section 59, Juvenile Law).

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