Even the laws introducing abortion in 1974, and theabolitionofthedeathpenalty in 1981, required fewer hours of debate in parliament and proved less contentious.
The Homicide Review Advisory Group claim the mandatory life sentence was a compromise arrived at to ensure theabolitionofthedeathpenalty made its way through both Houses of Parliament.
Sitting in his cramped offices in southern Seoul, lawyer Lee, who heads the Council for theAbolitionoftheDeathPenalty, says a growing number of South Koreans concur with the popular Western view that executing murderers does little or nothing to deter potential killers.
The country once had been at the forefront in the region's efforts to abolish in law and practice thedeathpenalty, with a moratorium on thedeathpenalty for 27 years and theabolitionof capital punishment for drug offenses in April 2011, Heyns said.