By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

More than 60 percent of Koreans back the death penalty, according to a survey conducted on 3,000 people over the age of 19 by Hankook Research. The Ministry of Justice organized the survey in the wake of growing calls to maintain capital punishment since the arrest of alleged serial killer Kang Ho-soon. The ministry said they conducted the poll to determine the pros and cons of the controversial issue.

The survey showed some 64 percent of respondents were in favor of resuming executions, while about 18 percent of those surveyed said they were against it and 17 percent remained undecided. South Korea is considered a country having suspended the death penalty, as it has not carried out capital punishment since 1997. However, the arrest of alleged serial killer Kang, who confessed to having killed eight women over the past four years, has rekindled the debate.

There are still 58 inmates on death row in the country. Amid the thorny issue, the Constitutional Court is likely to decide whether capital punishment is constitutional this year. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the death penalty twice, in 1969 and 1987, and the Constitutional Court upheld it in a 7-2 vote in 1995.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr