The homicide of a South Korean girl at a subway station in Seoul has triggered widespread fury throughout the nation, forcing the federal government to overview loopholes in its anti-stalking regulation.
President Yoon Suk-yeol directed the justice ministry to amend laws that got here into impact final yr after a 28-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her stalker at Sindang station earlier this month, reported the South China Morning Put up.
Police say the sufferer, who has not been publicly named, was stabbed by 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan, who was resulting from be sentenced for stalking her.
Unaware she was being watched by her attacker, the sufferer completed her night shift on the subway station, as Jeon waited for her over an hour exterior the bogs, sporting gloves and a disposable bathe cap.
The attacker started harassing the girl in 2019 when she began working for Seoul Metro. He reportedly known as her over 300 instances, begging her up to now him and threatened self-harm on her refusal.
The sufferer reported him in October final yr, following which he was fired from his job and arrested. Jeon, nonetheless, was launched on bail and never subjected to a restraining order.
He was arrested on fees of homicide with the order on his stalking indictment being postponed to 29 September.
The girl’s demise triggered widespread anger in opposition to the federal government, with many calling for tightening of the laws. Whereas stalking was thought of a misdemeanour punishable solely by a tremendous of as much as 100,000 gained ($63) till final yr, the federal government handed a extra stringent regulation in October 2021, stipulating 5 years of jail time period for these convicted.
However the regulation, a number of argue, fails to offer sufficient safety to the sufferer as a perpetrator might be prosecuted solely with the consent of the complainant.
It supplies a possibility for the stalker to bully their victims to withdraw circumstances, together with within the present case the place Jeon reportedly informed police that he killed the girl as a result of he resented her for submitting a police criticism.
In line with SCMP, at the very least three ladies have been killed by their stalkers within the first six months of this yr.
Police have thus far arrested 7,152 individuals below the brand new anti-stalking regulation, reported the BBC, citing knowledge from the Nationwide Police Company. Nonetheless, solely 5 per cent of the suspects have been detained.
“I felt annoyed on the failure by regulation enforcement and the courtroom to behave extra proactively to stop the homicide,” mentioned the sufferer’s lawyer, Min Go-eun, as she criticised the limitation of the regulation.
Felony psychologist and professor Lee Soo-jung, who additionally advises the federal government, instructed the ministry take away the clause requiring the sufferer’s consent earlier than prosecution, whereas the Supreme Court docket has proposed giving restraining order to stalking suspects not in detention, reported the BBC.
The federal government, nonetheless, can also be going through backlash for feedback made by the nation’s gender equality and household minister Kim Hyun-sook, who mentioned the girl’s homicide was not a gender-based hate crime.
“I don’t agree that this case must be framed as males versus ladies,” she mentioned throughout a go to to Sindang station.
The minister sparked additional fury after she blamed the sufferer for not taking different preventive measures and searching for recommendation from a ministry helpline.
In the meantime, a report by the Korean Nationwide Police College discovered 4 in 10 murders of shut companions have been preceded by stalking, reported The Guardian.
