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CBCK campaigns against death penalty

CBCK campaigns against death penalty
Korean bishops' subcommittee for the abolition of capital punishment has distributed a video
Published: March 10, 2011 10:25 AM GMT
Updated: March 10, 2011 10:25 AM GMT

The Catholic bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK) released a video which has a message - “Don't kill in our names” - that Korea should abolish the death penalty. The Korean bishops' subcommittee for the abolition of capital punishment distributed the video and a homily asking to abolish the capital punishment to some 1,600 parishes in the country on March 7. The 9 minute video, titled “Culture of Death to Culture of Life," contains the history of capital punishment in Korea since liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the meaning of abolishing the capital punishment by fulfilling respect for life and an interview with St. Paul of Chartres Sister Jean Marc Cho Sung-ai, known as Godmother of death row inmates. Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon, president of the committee for justice and peace, said in the materials, “We should know the capital punishment cannot be a method for crime prevention at all. I hope that many people participate in achieving a culture of life by remembering Jesus who lived as a death row.” Korea was classified as 'abolitionist in practice' after 10 years of no executions since December 30, 1997. But there is still no legal bar to the death penalty, and the constitutional court ruled that the capital punishment is constitutional on February 25, 2010. The number of condemned criminals who had been executed since Korea government was established in 1948 is 920 in total. Sister Cho Lutgarda, coordinator of the justice and peace committee, said today, “The video and the homily material will be able to help remind the meaning of Lent to Catholics.” The committee has twice presented a petition of legislation for the abolition of capital punishment which collected ten thousand people's signatures from whole bishops, priests, lay people including Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul to the national assembly. KO13593

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