Criminals DNA samples to be taken, preserved

By Park Si-soo

Staff reporter

DNA samples of convicted criminals and prime suspects of major felonies will be taken and preserved permanently starting next week, said the National Police Agency (NPA), Wednesday.

The agency said a law enabling police to collect the genetic information will go into effect Monday, raising hopes that the up-to-date profiling method will make it easier for the authorities to investigate, catch and identify those behind brutal crimes.

“This DNA database will provide a boost to our investigation to catch criminals more effectively,” an NPA officer said.

The measure came amid growing public outrage over a series of child rape cases that have pushed the government and lawmakers to come up with tougher punishments for them.

Under the rules, those suspected of committing one of 11 crimes with higher recidivism rates will be obliged to have their DNA samples taken, police said. The 11 offenses include homicide, rape, arson, organized crime, drug offenses and robbery.

To prevent data leakage, managed information will be encrypted in a mixture of numbers and specific marks.

Suspects’ DNA will be, in principle, collected by mutual consent. In the case that a suspect keeps refusing to provide a sample, police can take it forcibly after earning a court’s approval.

Police estimate more than 40 people’s DNA information will be added to their database, the so-called “DNA Bank,” each day.

To run the programm efficiently, the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NISI) recently opened a center for storing DNA samples and profiling them in southwestern Seoul. It also plans to recruit DNA specialists and upgrade its equipment.