Staff Reporter
The National Police Agency said Wednesday that 9,408 former sex offenders will be put under special watch from May. Currently, 1,689 are being monitored.
The measure comes amid growing public anger over a child rape-murder case, in which a 33-year-old convicted sex offender confessed to raping a 13-year-old victim and suffocating her to death.
Among those to be added to the surveillance list, are 2,630 child rapists, 2,551, who are found to have engaged in sexual harassment, and 2,538 pedophiles.
In addition, personal information of criminals committing sex crimes against children will be open to the public at police offices in districts where criminals under observation are living.
So far, concerned citizens have only been able to access details of juvenile sex offenders on a need-to-know basis at police stations.
Police also plan to categorize child molesters according to their age, type of crime and frequency of offending.
Those in the top-tiered Group A will be supervised by police for 10 years after being released from custody, while those in Groups B and C will be under watch for five and three years, respectively.
Police are also seeking to revise related laws so that the Ministry of Gender Equality will be empowered to make personal information of sex offenders public.
Korea has seen a growing number of children suffering from sexual violence. According to the statistics, 3.3 sex crimes against children are committed a day and the number of victims under 13 years of age is increasing by 10 percent every year.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
청소년 대상 성범죄 감시 강화
경찰은 최대 9,480 명의 성범죄자들을 올 5월부터 특별 감시할 것이라고 17일 발표했다.
경찰은 지난 주 이 모양(13)의 성폭행 및 살해 피의자가 체포된 후 아동 성폭행에 대한 국민의 우려와 불만이 커지면서 이러한 대책을 세우게 됐다.
이 특별 감시 대상자에는 2,630명의 아동 성폭행범과 2,551 명의 성추행범, 2,538명의 청소년 대상 성매매범들이 포함된다.
또한 성범죄자의 정보 열람은 종전의 까다로운 조건이 간소화되면서 모든 지역 경찰에서 감시대상 성범죄자의 개인 정보를 공개하는 것으로 확대된다.
청소년 대상 성범죄자들은 가, 나, 다 세 등급으로 분류되어 특별 감시를 받게 된다. 경찰은 또한 여성부에서 성인을 대상으로 한 성범죄자들의 개인 정보도 공개할 수 있도록 관련 법을 개정하는 방안을 모색 중이다.
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