Stalking Offender Violating 'Emergency Measures' Such as Access Prohibition Faces Criminal Punishment Including Imprisonment

Rep. Lee Young of the People Power Party Leads the Proposal to Amend the Stalking Punishment Act

Lee Young, member of the People Power Party.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] A bill has been proposed to impose criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to one year, for failure to comply with the police's 'emergency protective measures' such as restraining orders to separate stalking crime perpetrators and victims.

On the 17th, Lee Young, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, announced that he had introduced the "Partial Amendment to the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes" with such provisions as the main sponsor.

The police can take emergency protective measures to protect stalking crime victims, such as prohibiting perpetrators from approaching within 100 meters or using telecommunications to contact the victim. However, under current law, violations are only subject to fines of up to 10 million won (3 million won for the first violation, 7 million won for the second, and 10 million won for the third or more), making it difficult to immediately use physical force such as arresting the offender on the spot.

The amendment bill proposed by Rep. Lee includes strengthening penalties so that perpetrators who fail to comply with emergency protective measures can be punished with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won. Since criminal penalties, rather than administrative fines, will be possible, the police will be able to immediately arrest offenders on the spot when witnessing violations, enabling active responses from the early stages of stalking behavior.

Rep. Lee said, "Although there have been tragic cases recently where lives were lost due to stalking crimes, the initial response to stalking crimes was limited to fines, which greatly reduced its effectiveness," adding, "I expect the amendment to serve as a mechanism to suppress the spread of stalking crimes and promptly protect victims."

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