It seems like common sense to keep these sex offenders away from schools:
Cho Doo-soon arrives at a probation center in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, after being released from prison in December 2020. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-suk
Last month, Park Byung-hwa, 39, a serial rapist who was released after 15 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting 10 women between December 2002 and October 2007, settled in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. He moved into a residential district where two elementary schools and one high school are located within a three kilometers radius of his home.
Residents have held multiple rallies calling for Park’s eviction. In response, the local government has additionally installed 30 surveillance cameras in the area and is distributing window locking devices and safety alarm gadgets to women living nearby, but such measures have done little to assuage their concerns about possible re-offending by the ex-convict.
Even though registered sex offenders are closely monitored by probation officers, an absence of restrictions blocking heinous criminals from residing near schools and child-related facilities is highly unnerving for residents in the neighborhood.
It is interesting how this complaint comes out after the actor becomes world famous from his role in Squid Game:
“Squid Game” actor O Yeong-su has been indicted on charges of sexual misconduct, judicial officials said Friday.
The Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors Office indicted the 78-year-old O without detention Thursday over an allegation that he inappropriately touched the body of a woman in mid-2017, the officials said.
The case dates back to December last year, when the alleged victim filed a complaint against O with police.
Police then closed the case without filing any charge against the actor in April but the prosecution later reopened the investigation at the request of the victim.
With this new policy kids at the age of 13 can spend time in jail instead of youth correction centers:
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon (R) visits a juvenile correctional facility in Anyang, south of Seoul, on June 22, 2022, in this file photo provided by his ministry.
The age of criminal responsibility will be lowered by one year from the current 14, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday, announcing measures to cope with an increasing number of serious crimes committed by juveniles.
The ministry said it will revise the criminal and juvenile laws to lower the criminal age limit to be able to charge youths criminally from the age of 13.
Currently, minors under the age of 14 cannot be convicted of a crime in South Korea. If such children commit offenses, they are referred to community service programs or youth correction institutions.
Under the soon-to-be revised laws, 13-year-old middle school first or second grade students, for instance, will be subject to criminal punishment if they commit a crime.
This will be pretty significant if the prosecutors succeed in arresting the former ROK Defense Minister over the death of the fishery official by the North Koreans two years ago:
Former Defense Minister Suh Wook (L) and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee (Yonhap)
Prosecutors sought arrest warrants Tuesday for former Defense Minister Suh Wook and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee in an investigation into the previous administration’s handling of the 2020 death of a fisheries official at the hands of North Korea.
The two are facing various charges, including dereliction of duty, abuse of power and creating false official documents in connection with the Moon Jae-in administration’s conclusion without sufficient evidence that the fisheries official was killed while attempting to defect to the North.
Critics have accused the Moon administration of drawing the conclusion to curry favor with Pyongyang.
Prosecutors suspect Suh deliberately erased intelligence reports that suggest the official, Lee Dae-jun, did not intend to defect, and ordered officials to write false facts for a report for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kim — who was responsible for an investigation into the death at the time — is under suspicion of using fabricated facts to conclude that Lee had intended to defect.
It is pretty amazing that this guy only got 15 years for raping 11 children. The odds seem high that at some point he is going to do this again:
Uijeongbu Mayor Kim Dong-geun, sixth from left, joins a protest rally with Uijeongbu citizens and politicians, in front of a facility that child rapist Kim Geun-sik was scheduled to enter, Saturday. The prosecution requested another arrest warrant for Kim on the same day. Screenshot from Kim Dong-geun’s Facebook account
The prosecution requested the court to issue an arrest warrant for serial child rapist Kim Geun-sik, Saturday, two days before he was set to be released from prison, as a woman filed charges that he raped her 16 years ago when she was a minor.
Kim was expected to be released this Monday after serving 15 years in jail on charges of having raped 11 minors.
According to the prosecution, the victim recently recognized Kim’s face as the man who sexually assaulted her 16 years ago, as the media began to report on his release using his mugshot photo. She filed new charges against him with the prosecution.
Prosecutors said they analyzed relevant evidence and proved that Kim had been the attacker in the case.
“Not only is Kim’s crime very serious, but also there’s a possibility of Kim running away as he has no permanent residence at the moment. He could recommit such crimes, or do harm to the victims. That’s why we requested an arrest warrant,” the prosecution said.
If Kim is released Monday, he is scheduled to move into a facility affiliated with the justice ministry that helps released prisoners reintegrate into society, by offering housing as well as psychiatric, educational and other services, similar to what is known in English as a “halfway house.” As Kim was assigned to enter such a facility located in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, residents who have children attending school nearby have expressed their worries.
That is a lot of meth, hopefully they keep this guy in jail to do his full sentence:
A sniffer dog demonstrates a customs inspection process at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 11, 2022. (Yonhap)
A regional court meted out a 30-year prison term to a man on Thursday on charges of smuggling in 902 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico, the biggest amount of drug smuggling ever in South Korea, officials said.
The 38-year-old, whose name was withheld, was accused of bringing in the drugs in December 2019 and July 2020 from Mexico in collusion with an international crime ring.
He and his accomplice allegedly imported the drugs hidden inside helical gears and smuggled 498 kilograms back to Australia, according to court records.
Worth about 3 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) in retail price and enough for 30 million doses, the smuggled drugs mark the biggest ever amount brought into the country in its drug smuggling history.
Moments ago, Jeon Joo-hwan, the stalker suspected of murdering a woman in a Seoul subway station appeared outside Namdaemun Police Station, said he "was so sorry" and "did something really crazy". pic.twitter.com/hETOQAKgoh
BREAKING: Fat Leonard, who escaped from U.S. custody two weeks ago, is in Venezuela with his eldest son, likely on way to Brazil, according to a report in @WhaleHunting_. Sign up for free to read: https://t.co/BX2up2pvuU
This would make for a great Dog the Bounty Hunter episode hunting this guy down:
Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon (Yonhap)
South Korean prosecutors said Sunday that Do Kwon, the wanted founder of Terraform Labs accused of fraud following the massive collapse of the firm’s cryptocurrencies in May, is “obviously on the run” and not cooperating with the investigation.
The remarks came in response to Kwon’s claim in a tweet that “I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar — for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide.”
On Saturday, Singapore police’s statement said the Terraform founder and CEO is no longer in Singapore.
The blockchain firm has been under investigation for alleged fraud and tax evasion after investors in its cryptocurrencies — TerraUSD and Luna — filed complaints against Kwon in May, accusing him of a Ponzi scheme over the loss of billions of won following the crash of both coins earlier that month.
