Reason for government's existence

By Seoh Bong-seong

Following the end of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, but it rose to become one of the 15 richest nations in five decades.

By all accounts, it was a miraculous economic success. That is tempered, however, by the frequency of sexual offenses here, reportedly the fourth-highest in the world. I've felt enormously stressed recently by the frequent reports of horrible crimes nationwide.

Economically, the country is better off than at any other point in Korean history. Koreans seldom die of hunger or a lack of medical care. Nevertheless, our society remains somewhat unsafe.

I think everyone would agree that we would like to raise our children without worries for their safety. Some boast of Korea's strong information technology sector but pornography is ubiquitous on the Internet and mobile phones and the authorities say they can't block it. Alcohol is easily and cheaply available, which is why there are so many drunks in our country. In addition, most Koreans are generally tolerant of "unintentional" actions by people who are drunk.

Sometimes people commit sexual offenses after mixing pornography and alcohol, which can induce one to rape or murder. I think it's pretty hard to make our country a happy land envied by others unless we can completely root out these types of cruel crimes.

In July, a 10-year-old girl was found dead after being kidnapped and raped. Sobbing, her father said, "I should avenge my daughter if possible but, if not, the government must do it on my behalf." On Aug. 20 in Seoul, a mother of two arrived back at home after dropping her children off at a kindergarten. A man was lying in wait in her room. He attacked and attempted to rape her and ended up killing her. Her husband cried out while shedding tears, "The monster's execution may cure my pain but it should be done painfully to avenge my beloved wife."

When I study royal documents from the Joseon Kingdom, I see that King Sejong ordered a criminal be hanged for raping an 8-year-old girl. According to another legal record from the period, "a criminal named Kim Yin-eup from Pyeonghae raped an 8-year-old girl, so he should be hanged." The king's approval of that sentence was also recorded.

The Kim Young-sam administration executed 23 condemned criminals in 1997, but the practice was then suspended and remains so. There are now 60 condemned criminals in prison. Those individuals killed a total of 207 innocent people. The Ministry of Justice says it costs more than 1.3 billion won a year to keep them imprisoned.

There are some who show no interest in the death of their victims or the mourning of the bereaved relatives. They continuously insist on working to stop the execution of brutal criminals, whose crimes have been verified beyond a doubt. With groundless evidence that capital punishment has not lowered the rate of violent crimes, they petition the government for cozy conditions for the prisoners under the banner of human rights. But what about the human rights of the victims?

I do not believe that it is right for us to follow other advanced countries and suspend the death penalty. Every country has its own unique atmosphere, environment and circumstances.

I cannot for the life of me understand those people against capital punishment. If they lost someone close to them, would they dare to keep petitioning for its abolishment?

Of course, laws are needed to ensure that the death penalty is used fairly.

But having people convicted of heinous crimes continue to live in prison is nothing but a meaningless waste of national tax revenue. They should be dispatched to the inferno as soon as possible.

It costs the government 22 million won a year to look after each of those criminals. That's nearly equivalent to the annual salary at a medium-sized company.

I would rather see this money used for the medical treatment of survivors and the bereaved. Or set it aside for compensation in criminal cases. If not, all of the money should be reimbursed to us, the taxpayers.

I would also like to ask the judges to force criminals to pay emotional damages to their victims, as it is done in the U.S.

From April to July in 1984, the prosecution sought the death penalty for 14 offenders convicted of robbery-rape and robbery-murder. They also demanded life sentences for some 30 other terrible criminals. In 1984, the supreme prosecutor's office announced that there had been 69 cases of robbery-rape in the first quarter of the year but that the total during the second quarter fell to 35 "thanks to strong enforcement of the law."

A high court judge at the time said, "Strong enforcement of the law significantly cut down the number of serious crimes."

The writer is a professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Culture at Jeju International University. His email address is benseoh@naver.com.