Witness Protection Program to Debut
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Justice said it will introduce a program to protect individuals giving testimony in a courtroom by the end of next year.
Under the witness protection program, witnesses involved in sexual and violent crimes as well as corruption scandals will be allowed to stay at secret shelters to be built at 10 locations around the country. Police officers will accompany them whenever they appear in court.
The ministry is considering allowing those deemed to be in danger to change their names and other personal information. This move came after a series of retaliatory crimes in which witnesses were assaulted or even killed by those whom against they testified. For instance, an accused male killed his girlfriend in April after a court rejected an arrest warrant sought for him.
``Many witnesses are hesitant to provide testimony for fear of possible reprisal,'' a justice ministry official said. ``We expect the program to help more people to appear in courtroom for legal justice.''