SEOUL– Research officials affiliated with 18 members of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) will hold a videoconference this week to discuss issues of the right to life, such as the death penalty, the Constitutional Court of Korea (CCK) said Monday.
The international conference to be organized by the AACC Secretariat for Research and Development will take place Wednesday and Thursday, according to the CCK, which is in charge of operating the AACC secretariat.
The main theme of the conference is the right to life and participants will share each member country’s experience and knowledge on the state’s duty to protect life and how the right to life is guaranteed through the Constitution and constitutional court trials, the court said.
In the first session, the death penalty and the use of physical force in the process of law enforcement will be discussed under the theme of the right to life and the state’s public power. The second session will deal with abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, while socio-cultural aspects of the right to life, the environment and diseases will be discussed in the third session, it noted.
The conference draws particular attention, as the CCK is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the death penalty next month in connection with a constitutional petition filed by a local Catholic group in 2019 to outlaw the death penalty system. The CCK has already ruled 7-2 in 1996 and 5-4 in 2010 that the death penalty is constitutional.
“As the world has suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, in-depth discussions are necessary on the state’s duty to protect life,” said Yoo Nam-seok, president of the CCK, expressing a wish for the AACC conference to discuss various concerns and issues related to life.
Source: Yonhap News Agency