 Children cross their arms over their heads to make an “X sign” during a session teaching them how to avoid sex crimes, at their daycare center in Bongcheon-dong, southwestern Seoul, Monday. The session was hosted by the civic group Good Neighbors. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki |
Law revision also aims to enable unsolicited police probes into sex crimes
By Na Jeong-ju
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Monday that it will push for a law revision to increase the maximum penalty for rape of a minor from the current five years in jail to between 10 years and life imprisonment.
The Ministry of Justice is also seeking an amendment to enable law enforcement officials to investigate rapes and other sex crimes without receiving an official report or complaint.
The measures came as the government is stepping up a fight against sex offenses amid soaring rape cases including those of children.
“I’m very sorry as a top government official in charge of preventing sexual violence for the growing public anxiety over a string of sex crimes,” Kim Kum-lae, minister of gender equality and family, told reporters.
She said the government will spare no efforts to better protect women and children by getting tougher with offenders.
The revision will also no longer allow the influence of alcohol to be an excuse for those who commit sex crimes, the ministry said.
Under the revision, those convicted of molesting children under the age of 19 but not of raping them will face up to 5 years in prison or a fine of 30 million to 50 million won.
In addition, those who possess child pornography will face up to 10 years in jail. The maximum penalty for such offenders is currently a fine of 20 million won.
The government is also seeking to expand the enforced usage of hormonal treatment against sex offenders. Currently, the punishment is only reserved for pedophiles, but it wants to increase its use to include all sex offenders.
The justice ministry is also seeking to revise relevant laws so that prosecutors can bring charges against perpetrators of sex crimes even without complaints from victims.
The ministry said it is working with legal experts to abolish a clause in Criminal Law which calls for direct complaints from sex crime victims to investigate and prosecute suspects.
Currently, such crimes against minors and physically and mentally challenged people are excluded from the clause, but adult victims must submit complaints directly.
If the clause is scrapped, the prosecution could probe and punish perpetrators of all types of sex offenses without complaints from victims.
The move reflects public demand for tougher punishment for sex offenders amid a series of high-profile brutal crimes against minors and women.
“There are concerns that the scrapping of the clause may infringe on the human rights of perpetrators and sex crime convicts. It will also make it impossible for victims to be compensated for their pain and suffering,” a ministry spokesman said.
“In the past, many perpetrators evaded prosecution after reaching a financial compromise with victims, but that will never happen, if the clause is removed.”
The prosecution plans to demand much heavier jail terms for murderers and sex offenders. Police have also launched a crackdown on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and Internet servers, believed to be the main distribution channels of child pornography, in a bid to counter sex crimes.
Last week, prosecutors indicted five people for keeping child porn on their computers after downloading it from websites. It is also investigating some 60 other people for distributing such images on the Internet.
Minister Kim called for nationwide efforts to prevent sex crimes.
“We’re living in a flood of obscene materials spreading via smartphones or the Internet,” the minister said. “All members of society should take this problem seriously and make efforts to produce sound sexual awareness.”
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