The government will revise the law to increase the penalty for sex offenses against minors, the women's and family affairs ministry said Monday after a number of brutal sex crimes against youths has sparked public uproar in recent months.
The maximum penalty for rape of a minor will rise from the current five years in jail to 10 years or life imprisonment, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said.
The revision will also no longer allow the influence of alcohol to be treated as a mitigating circumstance for those who commit sex crimes, the ministry said.
The planned legislation is part of a set of measures announced by the ministry to eradicate sex crimes against minors and women.
Public outrage has mounted over a recent string of violent sex offenses and random killings. In the latest and most shocking case, a seven-year-old girl was kidnapped while sleeping at her home in Naju, a southern provincial city, and brutally raped late last month.
The case prompted President Lee Myung-bak to issue a public apology for his government's failure to stop such crimes.
"I'm very sorry as a top government official in charge of preventing sexual violence for the growing public anxiety over a spate of sex crimes," Kim Kum-lae, the minister of gender equality, told reporters. "We will make efforts to increase the related budget through consultations with the parliament and pertinent government offices."
Under the revision, those convicted of molesting children under the age of 19 but not of rape will face up to 5 years in prison or a fine of 30 million to 50 million won (US$26,550-44,250), according to the ministry.
The government also said it will remove a provision in the current law stipulating that those who sexually abuse minors cannot be punished if the victims do not want that.
The authority will also push to have those who possess child pornography face up to 10 years in jail or 20 million won in fines, the ministry said. The maximum penalty for such offenders is currently a fine of 20 million won.
Kim called for nationwide efforts to prevent sex crimes.
"We're living in a flood of sexually obscene materials spreading via smartphones or the Internet," the minister said. "All members of society should take this problem seriously and make efforts to have sound sexual awareness," she added. (Yonhap)
