Debate the death penalty - a view from Korea

Following is an excerpt from a piece by Lee Sang-il, who is a deputy international news editor at the JoongAng Ilbo:

"Dostoevsky later spent four years in a prison in Siberia. He wrote of Petersburg Plaza in his novel "The Idiot" as follows: "I now only have five minutes left to breathe in this world. How should I use it? Two minutes for saying goodbye to my fellow members, two minutes in looking back on my life and one last minute looking at the world for one last time." Dostoevsky said, "Execution is blasphemy against the spirit." French novelist Victor Hugo wrote in his book "The Last Days of a Condemned," "Execution is not just cutting off the head of the sinner, but also the heads of his family."