Two Long-Term Death Row Inmates at Gwangju Prison Die Without Execution

Died Last Year Due to Old Age and Illness

It has been reported that death row inmates who committed heinous crimes and had been serving long sentences at Gwangju Prison passed away one after another last year.

According to the Ministry of Justice and other sources on the 29th, two death row inmates whose sentences had not been carried out?Oh Jonggeun, the perpetrator of the "Boseong Fishermen Serial Murders," and Kang Youngseong, the main culprit in the "Miryang Karaoke Bar Murder"?both died last year.

In August and September 2007, Oh Jonggeun traveled to Boseong, South Jeolla Province, and brutally murdered four male and female travelers who boarded his boat to satisfy his sexual desires, resulting in his permanent isolation from society.

Kang Youngseong was a gang member who, in January 1996, seriously injured two rival gang members at the Hwarang Karaoke Bar in Sammun-dong, Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, chased them to the hospital and killed them, and also attacked seven others, including police officers who responded to the scene, with a weapon.

Both died at Gwangju Prison due to old age and illness. Oh Jonggeun reportedly died around July last year, and Kang Youngseong died about a month later.

Oh Jonggeun was sentenced to death in 2010 and served as the oldest death row inmate in the country; he was 86 years old at the time of his death last year. Kang Youngseong was sentenced to death at age 30 in 1996 and died last year at age 58.

Oh Jonggeun filed a constitutional lawsuit claiming that the death penalty violates human dignity, while Kang Youngseong, after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage and other illnesses, applied for a suspension of execution. However, neither request was granted.

With the deaths of these two, the number of remaining inmates with confirmed death sentences now stands at 57. Of these, four were sentenced under military law and are incarcerated at the Military Prison. Since December 1997, South Korea has not carried out any executions and is thus classified as a "de facto abolitionist country" regarding the death penalty.

As public demand for the execution of heinous criminals has grown, in 2023 the Ministry of Justice ordered all correctional facilities nationwide with execution chambers to conduct inspections of related facilities.