Korea Herald -

KOREA:Cardinal Kim to press politicians for abolition of death penalty

Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan will meet with National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-sup tomorrow to seek the legislature's support for a campaign to abolish capital punishment in Korea, Seoul Archdiocese officials said yesterday.

The officials said Kim would ask Lee to support the quick enactment of a special bill banning the death penalty. A total of 154 lawmakers signed the bill last week.

 Cardinal Kim, Korea's top Roman Catholic leader, has been increasing his public activities in support of the movement to ban the death penalty.

 Last month, Kim met with 6 death-row inmates at a detention center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.

 Early this year, a coalition of major religious groups set up a nationwide organization, called the "Panreligious Anti-Death Penalty Campaign." Ten days later, a group of lawmakers moved to push for legislation banning capital punishment.

 "After the meeting, Kim is scheduled to deliver a congratulatory speech at an international forum on the death penalty at the National Assembly," said an official at the Seoul Archdiocese.

 The forum, titled "2001 Asia Forum/Seoul: Abolishment of the Death Penalty," is expected to draw about 80 representatives of civic groups opposed to the death penalty from 9 countries, organizers said. Some 300 Koreans are also expected to participate in the international forum.

 The event, the second of its kind in Asia, is expected to adopt a "Seoul declaration," calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Korea, they said. The 1st forum on the death penalty was held in Tokyo in 1993.

 The forum is jointly organized by the Panreligious Anti-Death Penalty Campaign and M43 Korea Abolishment of Death Penalty Association.

 Kim agreed to visit the National Assembly at the request of the Rev. Lee Young-woo, who heads a committee under the Seoul Archdiocese, advocating the abolition of the death penalty in Korea.