Assault on Train Passengers, Maximum Sentence Increased to 3 Years Regardless of Settlement

On the first day of the Chuseok holiday, the KTX at Seoul Station, fully packed with returning travelers, is departing energetically. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The government has decided to strengthen penalties for railway crimes, including assault incidents occurring on KTX trains.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 19th that it has prepared an amendment to the Railway Safety Act, which includes strengthening initial response by railway workers, including crew members, and increasing the severity of punishments.

This move comes in response to the rising number of railway crimes, such as the incident on August 20th where a man in his 20s verbally abused a child for making noise on a KTX train and assaulted a passenger who tried to intervene.

First, the government plans to amend the Railway Safety Act to increase the prison sentence for assault on trains from up to 2 years to up to 3 years. A new provision will also be introduced to punish offenders even if a settlement is reached. Additionally, assault will be included among prohibited acts on trains, allowing crew members to remove passengers who commit assault, verbal abuse, or disruptive behavior from the train and hand them over to railway police or temporarily isolate them from victims. Currently, prohibited acts on trains include entering restricted areas, tampering with railway vehicle equipment, acts causing sexual humiliation, and consumption of alcohol or drugs.

To prevent crimes and enable prompt response when incidents occur, crew members will be provided with dedicated recording devices such as body cameras by the end of November. These will be used for real-time evidence collection and tracking offenders in areas without closed-circuit television (CCTV).

Furthermore, CCTV installation inside passenger cars will be completed by the end of this year for high-speed trains and electric trains, and by the first half of next year for regular trains, to enhance crime prevention and evidence collection. As of the end of September, the CCTV installation rate on trains stands at 35%.

To facilitate swift response during incidents, the reporting function within ticketing apps (KORAIL Talk, SRT - Suseo High-Speed Railway) will be made more accessible by placing it in the ticket confirmation section to improve convenience.

To unify reporting channels for railway workers, all reports will be centralized to the railway police. To address the shortage of railway police personnel, the government plans to increase staff and raise the train crew rate from the current 7% to 30%.

Jung Chae-kyo, Director of Railway Safety Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, explained, "This measure focuses on establishing a faster and more efficient system for maintaining order and responding to crimes on trains," adding, "We fully reflected the opinions of stakeholders on the ground, such as crew members and railway police officers, during the planning process."

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