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🇸🇬 Singapore /Culture & Society

South Korean man fights for right to die in landmark court battle

From The Straits Times · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • A 65-year-old South Korean man with a debilitating neurological condition is challenging the country's ban on assisted dying in the Constitutional Court.
  • Lee Myung-shik, who suffers from constant, excruciating pain and cannot travel alone, abandoned plans to seek assisted death in Switzerland due to concerns his daughter could face prison time.
  • The case is the first known legal challenge to South Korea's assisted dying ban, with a survey indicating 82% of South Koreans support the practice.

Lee Myung-shik, a 65-year-old South Korean man enduring constant, excruciating pain from a rare neurological condition, is spearheading the nation's first known legal challenge against its ban on assisted dying. His fight has brought him to the Constitutional Court, seeking the right to decide his own death when medicine offers no cure and life is filled with suffering.

my thighs are being crushed by a heavy press, as though my lower body were pinned beneath a dump truck

— Lee Myung-shikDescribing the excruciating pain he endures daily.

Lee's debilitating condition, acute myelitis, leaves him wheelchair-bound and dependent on a catheter for urine drainage and a carer for stool removal. The pain is so severe he describes it as "my thighs are being crushed by a heavy press, as though my lower body were pinned beneath a dump truck." He states, "I am not really living. I am merely surviving."

His hope for assisted death in Switzerland, facilitated by the non-profit Dignitas, was dashed when he realized his daughter could face up to 10 years in prison under South Korea's Criminal Act ban on assisted suicide. "While preparing the paperwork, I halted the process because I could not bring myself to list a companion," he said, losing his "only hope."

I am not really living. I am merely surviving

— Lee Myung-shikExpressing his state of existence due to his condition.

Lee's lawyer, Kim Jae-ryon, filed the petition in 2023, arguing that the state should protect a person's "right to decide on their own death" in cases of incurable, persistent, and excruciating pain. While Dignitas has assisted 11 South Koreans by December 2025 without prosecution of accompanying individuals, Lee deemed the risk too great.

While preparing the paperwork, I halted the process because I could not bring myself to list a companion

— Lee Myung-shikExplaining why he abandoned his plan to travel to Switzerland for assisted death.

Lawyer Kim expressed cautious optimism, citing a global trend toward legalizing assisted dying and significant domestic support. A December 2024 survey found 82% of South Koreans favor assisted dying. A public hearing may occur in 2026, nearly three years after the petition was filed.

Incurable, persistent and excruciating pain is the most brutal form of torture on Earth

— Lee Myung-shikArguing for the right to decide on one's own death.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Straits Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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