of the 36 OECD member states, excluding Korea, the US, Japan, and Israel, acceding to the protocol. We viewed that the death penalty should be officially abolished on the basis that it is a cruel and inhumane punishment that violates the human dignity and value guaranteed by the Constitution and international human rights conventions as well as the nature of the right to life, that the damage done is irreparable when a case is misjudged, that it is difficult to recognize the death penalty as a crime deterrent, and that no death penalty has been carried out over the past 20 years since the last execution on December 30, 1997. On December 10, we recommended that the Minister of Employment and Labor join ILO Convention No. 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize) and No. 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining). Korea became the 152nd ILO member state in 1991 and has joined only four of the eight fundamental ILO conventions, including the Discrimination Convention and the Minimum Age Convention. With the other four conventions yet to be joined, Korea is witnessing a number of related labor rights issues such as restricting the scope of labor union activity of public officials, pronouncing the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union as an outsider union, and charging those involved in labor union activities with business obstruction. All ILO member states are obligated to respect, promote, and realize the eight fundamental ILO conventions in good faith regardless of ratification as specified in Article 2 of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. ILO Convention No. 87 has been joined by 155 member states (32 unjoined) and No. 98 by 165 member states (22 unjoined). The international community has continuously demanded that Korea join these two conventions. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that Korea join these conventions in its concluding observations for the 4th national report of Korea in 2017, while the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (Third Cycle) also recommended that Korea join the Freedom of Association Convention and Forced Labor Convention. National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2018 47 Part 2 | Commission's Major Activities I. Recommending the Joining of ILO Convention Nos. 87 and 98