[Column] Repetitive Backtracking on Stalking Incident Measures

A memorial procession of citizens continues on the 19th at the women's restroom of Sindang Station on Seoul Subway Line 2, where a woman in her 20s working as a station attendant was murdered after stalking. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

If the victim of the Sindang Station clerk murder case had survived, would the authorities' responsibility have been questioned as it is now? This question immediately came to mind upon hearing that the victim was given emergency treatment such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation right after being shot by the perpetrator Jeon Mo and was transported to the hospital. There is no answer other than "No." This is because stalking crime cases have continued to occur in our society recently, not just this incident.

In October last year, the "Stalking Punishment Act," which recognizes stalking as a serious crime and punishes it, was enacted. At that time, the political circle gave great significance to the fact that the related law, first proposed in 1999, was passed by the National Assembly for the first time. Concerns from some women's groups and others about the effectiveness of the law, including the "non-prosecution upon victim's withdrawal" clause, were buried.

As expected, the buried concerns became reality. The crimes of Kim Byung-chan, who retaliated by killing his ex-girlfriend who reported him for stalking, and Lee Seok-jun, who killed the mother of a woman under personal protection, all occurred after the law was enacted. There is no end to listing cases such as the incident in February this year in Guro-gu, Seoul, where a woman in her 40s under police protection was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend who had been issued a restraining order.

Every time an incident occurs, the authorities, including investigative agencies, make pledges. They promise the public that such incidents will never happen again. The police did the same. The chief personally bowed to the public and promised to overhaul all systems and institutions. This year, they announced plans to strengthen responses by introducing a new crime for failure to comply with emergency measures. The idea was to ensure effectiveness by allowing criminal punishment if stalking perpetrators do not comply with the police's emergency measures.

However, nothing has changed. Incidents repeat, and only the same pledges and promises are made. This time again, they say they will fix institutional problems to prevent similar tragedies from recurring. They say they will work to amend related laws, such as upgrading fines for failure to comply with emergency measures to criminal penalties. It sounds like they are still planning to fix the barn after losing the cow. The authorities, including the police, must be sternly held accountable for their lack of effort to prevent recurrence. Otherwise, even if the numerous victims of stalking crimes who have passed away come back to life, all we can do is repeatedly say "We are sorry."

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