Number of death row inmates rises to 60: report

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Korean prisoners on death row has
increased to 60 due to a reluctance to carry out executions in light of a
decade-long unofficial moratorium on capital punishment, a government report
showed Sunday.
Since it was founded in 1948, South Korea's government has executed a total of
920 people, according to the Justice Ministry report sent to parliament. The last
execution was carried out in December 1997.
Of the 920 inmates, 562 had been convicted of murder, the report said.
There has been an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty since February 1998
when President Kim Dae-jung, who was sentenced to death himself in 1980 but later
pardoned, took office.
In recent years, however, a steady rise in brutal crimes has prompted the public
to call more loudly for the implementation of the death sentence.
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