[2026 Parliamentary Audit] 151 Life-Sentenced Prisoners Granted Parole in 10 Years... 95.4% Committed Violent Crimes Such as Murder

Seo Youngkyo, Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair, Calls for Life Imprisonment Without Parole

Over the past 10 years, 151 inmates serving life sentences were granted parole, and 95.4% of them had committed violent crimes, including murder. It was also found that recidivism among inmates serving life sentences is not tracked separately after their release on parole, prompting calls for discussion of legal amendments to introduce life sentences without parole.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Seo Youngkyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, chair of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, 151 inmates serving life sentences were granted parole between 2017 and September 2026. Of these, 144 had committed murder-related crimes, including murder, robbery-murder, murder of a lineal ascendant, and rape-murder, accounting for 95.4% of the total.

The number of inmates granted parole each year was 11 in 2017, 40 in 2018, 14 in 2019, 18 in 2020, 17 in 2021, 16 in 2022, 12 in 2023, one in 2024, and nine in 2025. This year, 13 inmates had been granted parole by September, exceeding last year's full-year total.

The Ministry of Justice said it does not separately compile or track recidivism among inmates serving life sentences after they are released on parole.

Under Article 72 of the current Criminal Act, inmates serving life sentences may become eligible for parole under certain conditions after serving 20 years. Even when a court emphasizes the need to permanently segregate an offender from society in imposing a life sentence, current law does not allow the possibility of parole to be ruled out entirely.

To address these institutional limitations, Seo sponsored an amendment to the Criminal Act on September 4, 2024, to introduce life sentences without parole. The bill would allow courts to impose life imprisonment without parole or life imprisonment without labor and without parole, taking sentencing factors into account, and would exclude inmates given either sentence from parole eligibility.

Seo said, "Violent crimes must be met with appropriately severe punishment," adding, "Offenders who commit heinous crimes and show little prospect of rehabilitation or improvement need to be permanently separated from society."

She added, "We must promptly discuss introducing life sentences without parole to prevent recidivism by offenders who commit heinous crimes, protect people's lives, and promote public safety."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.