A South Korean woman taken off life support in a landmark "right-to-die" case stopped breathing and was declared dead today, nearly seven months after her respirator was removed, a Seoul hospital said.

The family of the 77-year-old woman, who had been in a vegetative state since suffering brain damage in February 2008, had sued to force doctors to take her off life support, saying she opposed keeping people alive with machines when there was no chance of revival.

The Supreme Court sided with the family and the woman's respirator was removed last June.

The ruling showed how South Korea's attitudes toward death have changed in recent years.

The nation's societal mores and laws have largely been shaped by Confucian ideals that call for preserving and honouring the body. As recently as 2004, two doctors who took a severely brain-damaged patient off life support were convicted of abetting murder and received suspended prison terms.

But a survey last year indicated a majority of South Koreans now favour stopping life support for the terminally ill.

Severance Hospital spokesman Lee Sung-man said the woman - identified only by her surname, Kim - stopped breathing today and was declared dead.

Her condition started deteriorating in late December and she died of multiple organ failure. Family members were with her when she died, he said.

Lee said the hospital continued to feed her fluids and nutritional supplements after the court ordered she be taken off life support. Doctors had predicted she would die soon after that, but she was able to breathe on her own without the help of the respirator.