The number of stalking suspects apprehended by police has already exceeded 7,000 this year, police data showed Tuesday, indicating that the dangers of such crimes remain, though nearly a year has passed since the murder of a subway station worker by a colleague who had stalked the victim for years.
Experts say the country’s punishment for stalking cases tends to be too weak to prevent the crime and that measures taken by police and courts against offenders, such as restraining orders, have frequently failed to protect victims.
They urge law enforcement authorities to react more sternly to the crimes and enhance protection for victims.
On Sept. 14 last year, Jeon Joo-hwan, a 31-year-old former employee of the Seoul Metro, was apprehended at Sindang Station on Line No. 2 after stabbing a female colleague in her 20s to death in the women’s toilets of the station.
The case shocked many people, as it was revealed Jeon murdered her one day before a court was set to sentence him on charges of stalking her.
According to the latest data that the National Police Agency submitted to Rep. Kwon In-sook of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, a total of 7,545 stalking suspects were apprehended by police between January and August.
Of those, 65.5 percent, or 4,942, were prosecuted. The rest were released.
Experts said one of the most important tasks in dealing with stalking cases is to separate suspects from victims. But the data showed that measures to effect separation have not worked properly.
From October 2021 ― when the Stalking Punishment Act was enacted ― to July this year, 11 percent of the measures such as a 100-meter restraining order and a telecommunication ban were ignored by the stalkers.
These violations include a case where a man in his 30s killed his ex-girlfriend in Incheon in July after stalking her.
Jeon Joo-hwan, the suspect in the Sindang Station stalking murder case, is transferred to the prosecution, Sept. 21, 2022. Newsis
Chong Hyon-mi, a law professor at Ewha Womans University, analyzed 636 rulings handed down by district courts from October 2021 to February this year and found that only 11.2 percent of alleged stalkers indicted received a prison term.
Fines and suspended prison terms, both of which do not confine offenders, were the most common at 32.5 percent and 32.1 percent, respectively.
“Even when a prison term was handed down, the period was less than eight months in most cases. This shows the punishment has tended to be weak,” Chong said. “In order to protect victims, more stern measures against offenders will be necessary to psychologically suppress them and block their access to victims at an early stage.”
Amid growing criticism over a lack of protections for victims, the government revised the Stalking Punishment Act in June, so law enforcement authorities can order stalking suspects to wear electronic monitoring anklets even before a court hands down a final ruling.
But this order, which will take effect in January next year, cannot be a fundamental countermeasure as it would be difficult to order all suspects to wear such devices, according to Chong.
A research team from Korean National Police University also noted in its recent report that investigators’ initial reactions are of paramount importance as stalking can quickly escalate into murder.
“Our analysis showed that stalking victims who get murdered tend to report the stalking right before it escalates to violence, so investigators should act immediately on reports made by the victims to prevent murders,” the team said.
Meanwhile, the family of the victim of the Sindang Station stalking murder case called for severe punishment of the offender.
On Monday, lawyer Min Go-eun who represents the family said, “If the Supreme Court upholds an appellate court’s decision to sentence the accused to life in prison, it will deliver a meaningful message to many other victims of stalking crimes.”
A district court had sentenced Jeon Joo-hwan to 40 years in prison in the murder case and an additional nine years in prison in the stalking case.
The two cases have since been combined for an appellate ruling for which prosecutors had demanded capital punishment.
Then, on July 11, the appellate court delivered life imprisonment for Jeon, saying, “The murder was committed in a very organized and thorough manner.”
