More S. Koreans Support Euthanasia, Markedly Rising from 2016

A new survey has found that more than seven out of ten people in South Korea support the institutionalization of euthanasia.

According to a poll of one-thousand adults conducted by a research team at Seoul National University Hospital last March and April, 76-point-three percent said they supported the legalization of euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide.

The figure is one-point-five times higher than results from similar studies conducted in 2008 and in 2016, which found support in the 50-percent range.

The most frequently chosen reason for the support was “because living out one’s life would be meaningless” at 30-point-eight percent, followed by “the right to die with dignity” at 26 percent, and “the right to end one’s suffering” at 20-point-six percent.

Among those opposing, 44-point-three percent cited “respect for life”, followed by 15-point-six percent who chose “a violation of one’s self-determination”.

Source: KBS World Radio