Ministry of Justice "Will Create a Major Shift in Criminal Justice Policy on Sexual Crimes... Increase Punishment Severity"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Ministry of Justice has announced that it will achieve a major shift in criminal justice policy by increasing the severity of punishments and revising laws to eradicate sex crimes.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Justice issued a press release stating, "We reflect on the fact that our society's response to sex crimes has been too lukewarm," and added, "We will relentlessly pursue and severely punish sex offenders and completely revise inadequate laws."

It continued, "We will reorganize criminal justice punishment requirements in accordance with international standards on sex crimes and drastically increase the severity of punishments," adding, "We will achieve a major shift in criminal justice policy."

Following the recent exposure of crimes related to the production and distribution of sexual exploitation materials in the 'n-beonbang' case, the Ministry of Justice gathered opinions from various sectors of society regarding sex crimes.

Based on this, the Ministry plans to raise the age of consent for statutory rape to 16 years old, establish a new 'preparation and conspiracy crime' that punishes even the planning of serious sex crimes, and promote legislation such as the enactment of the 'Stalking Punishment Act' and the 'Human Trafficking Act.'

In cases of organized sex crimes, the Ministry has set a policy to prosecute all participants as accomplices to the entire crime and to actively apply charges such as the crime of organizing a criminal group, responding strictly.

Additionally, the Ministry announced that it will actively hold chatroom members who received sexual exploitation materials accountable as accomplices in production and distribution, and will apply possession charges to receiving acts accompanied by automatic saving, ensuring punishment.

In particular, the Ministry emphasized that it will promote legislation allowing the disclosure of personal information of convicted criminals who have been confirmed guilty of distributing or possessing child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, and will strive to disclose suspects' personal information within the scope permitted by current law.

Furthermore, it added that sexual exploitation crimes will proactively recover criminal proceeds through independent confiscation and seizure orders even without indictment or conviction, and will introduce provisions presuming property acquired during the crime period as criminal proceeds to eliminate the motive for the crime.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.