SEOUL (UCAN) - The Korean bishops' Committee for Justice and Peace says it will initiate a nationwide campaign to abolish capital punishment in South Korea, beginning with education and leading to a legislative appeal.
To begin the campaign the committee will organize a seminar on the death penalty on May 30, Father Anthony Seong Wan-hai, executive secretary of the committee, told UCA News Feb. 24.
"The Church will present grounds for the abolition of the death penalty and arouse public opinion against executions," Father Seong said in explaining decisions made at a committee meeting Feb. 19.
The committee will also raise the issue with the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea prior to releasing a message later in the year requesting the government to abolish capital punishment.
With the message the committee will launch a signature campaign until July 2000 calling for abolition of the death penalty, Father Seong said.
The campaign is to culminate with a petition to the National Assembly to draft a bill prohibiting the death penalty. The committee will also urge a moratorium on executions for the year 2000 as an initial step.
Meanwhile, the Social Correction Apostolate Committee of Seoul archdiocese has begun its own campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.
The committee plans to send its petition to the United Nations in August and to organize a group of defense lawyers to help people accused of crimes for which conviction can bring a death sentence. Father Francis Xavier Kim Chong-soo, spiritual director of the committee, told UCA News Feb. 25 that "the committee decided to devote its full effort to the abolition of the death penalty."
"It's a shame for this country to still retain the death penalty. More than half of the countries in the world have already abolished it either in law or in practice," Father Kim added. At present 91 countries, including North and South Korea, still uphold the death penalty.
South Korea's last executions, of 23 convicts on Dec. 30, 1997, stirred criticism from the Catholic Church and human rights groups here and abroad.
With the executions, a total of 902 people have been hanged by the State since South Korea became independent in 1948. According to the Ministry of Justice, about 50 condemned prisoners are awaiting execution.
President Kim Dae-jung, a Catholic, once sentenced to death in 1980 as a political prisoner, has not approved any execution since he took office on Feb. 25 last year.
In an interview in 1997 with the Seoul archdiocesan Catholic weekly "Pyonghwa Shinmun," Kim said that capital punishment must be abolished. Among his reasons were that it has been proven to have failed in preventing crime and has instead led to crimes becoming more violent.
However, since assuming the presidency he has not mentioned any intention of abolishing the death penalty.
In November 1998, Pope John Paul II supported a proposal for a worldwide moratorium on executions in the year 2000, and in his message to the world on Christmas Day he called for an end to the death penalty worldwide.
UCAN 3. mars 1999