6 Executions in the U.S. This Year Alone, with 12 More Scheduled

While the Republic of Korea has not executed anyone for 27 years since December 1997, effectively making it a 'de facto abolitionist country', the United States carries out executions through various methods such as nitrogen gas, lethal injection, electric chair, and firing squad.

According to ABC News on the 12th (local time), the U.S. has executed six people so far this year, with 12 additional executions on the horizon.

By the 20th of this month, three men are scheduled to be executed in Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma.

States poised to carry out executions this year include Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. However, it has been reported that the governor of Ohio has been postponing execution dates as they approach.

The most recent execution took place on the 7th, with a firing squad execution of death row inmate Brad Sigmon (67) at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina.

In South Carolina, inmates can choose between the electric chair, lethal injection, or firing squad for their execution method.

Reports indicate that Sigmon opted for the firing squad after hearing that a fellow inmate took 20 minutes to die after receiving a lethal injection.

Recently executed Sigmon was sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of his ex-girlfriend’s parents and for attempting to shoot and abduct his ex-girlfriend.

Korea is a 'de facto abolitionist country', with ongoing constitutional review for abolishing the death penalty

In 2014, a man named Jang Mo was sentenced to death for murdering his ex-lover’s parents and holding his ex-lover hostage for eight hours; he remains an 'unexecuted death row inmate'.

On the other hand, a perpetrator in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, who brutally assaulted his ex-girlfriend, causing her death, was only sentenced to 12 years in prison during a first trial held in November of the same year.

There is growing criticism that the level of punishment for murder does not meet the citizens’ expectations, let alone the death penalty.

A constitutional claim to abolish the death penalty filed in 2019 is still under review. If the claim leads to the annulment of the death penalty's legal effect, some of the unexecuted death row inmates could request retrials.

Public opinion regarding the death penalty is also positive. A survey conducted by Korean Gallup on the retention of the death penalty from 1994 to 2022 consistently showed that a majority supported maintaining the death penalty.

Meanwhile, in 2023, Han Dong-hoon, then Minister of Justice and a former representative of the People Power Party, emphasized that while he instructed checks on execution facilities, there is a problem that "(if Korea) resumes executions, it could seriously sever diplomatic relations with the European Union (EU)," indicating that reintroducing executions is not going to be easy.

Recently, Kim Hong-il (then 26), who was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 2013 'Ulsan Sister Murder Case' but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, was learned to be making plans while in prison, stating, "I'll be out in 20 years," and that he could be paroled after approximately 20 years. This has led to discussions about 'life imprisonment without parole' as an alternative to the death penalty.

Image sources: abc news, Brad Sigmon / dailymail, 'electric chair' used for executions / gettyimageskorea, Photograph = Insight