SOUTH KOREA: TWO DEATH ROW INMATES DIE, LEAVING 57 REMAINING ON DEATH ROW

July 2, 2025:

The fact that two death row inmates died last year has been revealed belatedly. They died due to advanced age and illness while being in a state where capital punishment was not carried out for a long time.
According to the Ministry of Justice and others on June 29, 2025, two unexecuted death row inmates, Oh Jong-geun from the 'Boseong fisherman's serial murder' case and the main culprit of the 'Miryang tavern murder' Kang Young-sung, each died last year.
Oh Jong-geun was imprisoned for the brutal murder of four male and female tourists who boarded his boat while traveling to Boseong, Jeolla Province, in August and September 2007.
Kang Young-sung is a gangster who injured two rival gang members at the Hwaryang tavern in Sammun-dong, Miryang, Gyeongnam Province, in January 1996, then chased them to the hospital to finish them off and wielded a weapon against seven officers who responded.
They died in Gwangju Prison due to advanced age and illness.
Oh Jong-geun reportedly died around July last year, and Kang Young-sung about a month later.
Oh Jong-geun was sentenced to death in 2010, making him the oldest death row inmate in the country, and he was 86 years old at the time of his death last year.
Kang Young-sung received a death sentence at 30 in 1996 and died last year at 58.
Oh Jong-geun filed an unconstitutional lawsuit, claiming that the death penalty infringes on human dignity, while Kang Young-sung applied for a suspension of execution after battling a cerebral hemorrhage and other conditions, but both requests were denied.
With the passing of these two individuals, the number of remaining confirmed death sentences is 57. Of these, four were sentenced to death under military law and are currently incarcerated in a military prison.
Since December 1997, Korea has not carried out any executions and is classified as a 'de facto abolitionist country' concerning the death penalty.
As public opinion demanding the execution of heinous criminals has risen, the Ministry of Justice instructed a check of related facilities at correctional institutions nationwide with execution chambers in 2023.