South Korean Man Files First Constitutional Petition Challenging Assisted Dying Ban

Lee Myung-shik, a 65-year-old resident of Jeju Island, filed a petition with South Korea's Constitutional Court in 2023 challenging the country's ban on assisted dying. Lee was diagnosed in 2020 with acute myelitis, a condition with no known cure. He is wheelchair-bound, requires a catheter for urine drainage, and needs a carer to manually remove stool.

He also suffers pressure sores and skin necrosis. Lee described his pain as constant and severe. "My thighs are being crushed by a heavy press, as though my lower body were pinned beneath a dump truck," he said.

"I am not really living. " In 2022, Lee planned to travel to Switzerland with his daughter to seek an assisted death through Dignitas. He abandoned the plan after learning that his daughter could face up to 10 years in prison under South Korea's assisted suicide ban.

"While preparing the paperwork, I halted the process because I could not bring myself to list a companion," Lee said. " Lee's petition argues that when medicine offers no cure and life entails only physical and mental suffering, a person's "right to decide on their own death" should be protected by the state.

"Incurable, persistent and excruciating pain is the most brutal form of torture on Earth," he said.

The case is the first known legal challenge to South Korea's assisted dying ban, according to his lawyer, Kim Jae-ryon. A public hearing may be held later in 2026, with a ruling expected several months after that. Dignitas assisted 11 South Koreans with assisted deaths by December 2025.

A total of 144 South Koreans had applied for its services by the end of that year, ranking South Korea 14th among nationalities. None of those who accompanied others to Dignitas have been prosecuted, Kim said. Lee received assurance from Dignitas that the organization would accept him at any time.