One Week After Release, "Thanks to It, I Learned a Lot About Life"... Another Stalking Case Ends in Prison Sentence

Contacted with 'Are you doing well' after serving 6 months for stalking crime
Nearly 20,000 reports in 2 years under the Stalking Punishment Act

"Thanks to you, I learned a lot about life."

The court sentenced a man in his 30s to twice the original prison term after he stalked his ex-girlfriend again, sending messages like this even after serving time for stalking.

(This photo is not directly related to the article) [Photo by Pixabay]

According to the legal community on the 8th, Judge Shin Seo-won of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 5 sentenced A (34) to one year in prison on the 22nd of last month for violating the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes and ordered him to complete 40 hours of a stalking treatment program.

A is accused of repeatedly calling or sending messages to B, his former partner, from December last year to July this year, causing anxiety and fear through stalking behavior.

He was reported to have been released in early December last year after serving six months in prison for stalking B in July of the same year.

Investigations revealed that A sent messages such as "Are you doing well?" and "Thanks to you, I learned a lot about life" to the victim via mobile phone just one week after his release.

Later, at the end of January this year, he went to B's workplace and wandered around the area for 30 minutes before calling and saying things like "I became a criminal as you wanted" and "Come out for a moment." In early April, he waited in an alley and approached the victim as she was returning home, saying, "I have paid for my sins," demanding to reconcile. In total, he stalked her eight times.

The court stated the sentencing rationale, saying, "He contacted the victim again just one week after his release and repeated the same type of crime. He also has a prior record of a suspended prison sentence for special threats against the same victim. Strict punishment for the defendant is necessary."

The Stalking Punishment Act stipulates that stalking offenders may be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won. The punishable acts include approaching, following, or blocking the path of the other party "without justifiable reason and against their will," waiting or watching at places where the victim lives, works, studies, or otherwise regularly spends time, and leaving objects at or near the victim's residence. The sentence is increased if dangerous items such as weapons are used.

On September 21, Jeon Juhwan, the suspect in the Sindang Station murder, was being transferred from Namdaemun Police Station to the prosecution. The police sent Jeon Juhwan, who was arrested on charges of killing a female station attendant in her 20s whom he had been stalking in the women's restroom at Sindang Station, to the prosecution.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, since the enforcement of the Stalking Punishment Act in 2021, nearly 20,000 stalking crimes have been reported to the police over about two years. However, the arrest rate among suspects remains in the single digits, raising concerns that this only increases victims' anxiety.

According to data received by Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the National Police Agency on the 8th, a total of 19,394 stalking crimes were reported to the police from October 2021 to August this year. Among suspects arrested for stalking crimes, the detention rate was only 7% (58 out of 818) in 2021, and last year, it was just 3.3% (331 out of 9,999).

In September last year, following the stalking crime committed by Jeon Ju-hwan, who killed a man in his 20s at Sindang Station, the Ministry of Justice announced a legislative proposal to abolish the "non-prosecution upon victim's request" rule, which prevented prosecution if the victim did not want it, and to add the attachment of an electronic location tracking device (electronic anklet) when there is a risk of recurrence in the Stalking Punishment Act.

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