Crimes Against Women at Night Increasing
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Crimes against women at night are increasing and women's safety, especially in taxis, is not guaranteed.
In August, two women, who were on their way back home, were kidnapped by a contract taxi driver and found dead several days later. In September, a policeman armed with a weapon sexually abused two female office workers and stole 19 million won worth of their belongings.
A police agency announced earlier this month that it seized a man who had committed several felonies including sexual abuse in Seoul.
According to the National Police Agency, one third of crimes targeting women, such as rape, homicide and robbery, occur between midnight and 4 a.m., followed by from 8 p.m. through midnight at 21.3 percent, and from 4 a.m. through 7 a.m. at 15.1 percent.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also placed Korea among the group of countries in which women are not safe.
A report released by the OECD in 2007 said Korea took third place in the number of women killed, with 1.7 per 100,000 people.
``The most important thing for a woman's safe return home at night is ensuring the safety of public transportation, especially taxis, at night,'' experts said. ``Some contract taxi drivers perpetrate such crime by using their taxis.''
Contract taxi drivers refer to people who are neither registered with taxi companies nor have a license to own their own taxis. They temporarily operate taxis after paying a certain amount of money _ around 100,000 won per day _ to taxi companies or self-employed taxi drivers.
Police say there are more than 5,000 taxis run by contract drivers in Seoul.
``Many contract drivers have criminal records or a poor financial transaction history,'' Park Yong-hoon, president of the Coalition for Transportation Culture told The Korea Times. ``Despite a series of government-led efforts to outlaw this, the undesirable practice persists because it financially satisfies both taxi companies and contractors.''
The transportation expert called on the government to revise concerned regulations to legitimately punish such taxi companies, as well as contract drivers. ``Along with improved regulations, the government should have more manpower to crack down on the rampant practice,'' he said.