By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Prosecutors will file a request Friday for an arrest warrant for Kim Kil-tae who is suspected of kidnapping, raping and killing a 13-year-old middle school girl in Busan.

The 33-year-old repeat sex offender has denied committing the crime, police said, even though his DNA sample matched those found on the girl’s body. A court is expected to issue the warrant today.

Undercover detectives apprehended Kim, Wednesday, in a residential area of Busan, not far from where the victim’s body was found four days ago.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice said that convicted pedophiles and other sex offenders will face closer monitoring following their release from prison. It is also planning guidelines that would make it easier to revela the identity of suspects in serious crimes.

The ministry said that a revision to current regulations will be made to keep sex offenders under a special watch.

The post-release parole officer-style monitoring period will be extended by two years to five years and medical treatment, currently set at 10 years after release, will be for life.

A second rehabilitation center for up to 200 sex offenders will be opened in June next year in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province.

In a departure from routine practice, police allowed the photographing of the suspect following his arrest Wednesday.

Scores of photos of Kim with hair covering nearly half of his face were seen nationwide in newspapers and on TV.

"We are considering, in consultation with the ministry, adopting new guidelines to make public the faces of criminals involved in dreadful crimes on a selective basis," said Kim Joong-hwak, a senior officer at the National Police Agency

He added the media exposure of the suspect in the latest murder case was solely decided by the Busan Police Agency, not the police headquarters in Seoul.

"As far as I know," Kim said, "the disclosure was allowed on the grounds that DNA samples from the victim's body had tested positive as the suspect's and some photos of him had already been made public during the investigation."

pss@koreatimes.co.kr