Justices stand at the Constitutional Court room in Seoul, July 12. Yonhap

The Constitutional Court was to hold an open hearing Thursday on whether to keep or abolish the death penalty, the first such debate in 12 years after the punishment was ruled constitutional twice in 1996 and 2010.

The case began as a man convicted of killing his parents filed a constitutional petition challenging capital punishment in 2019, together with the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, after prosecutors demanded the death penalty for him.

He was later sentenced to life in prison.

Korea is globally categorized as an "abolitionist in practice," having not carried out any death penalty since its last execution on Dec. 30, 1997. But capital punishment is still permissible under the law, and 60 people were serving time in prison at the end of 2020 after getting the death penalty.