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Child rape case sparks law revision calls

A shocking case of child rape has driven the nation into a fury ever since it was revealed by a television documentary program on Sept. 22.

The anonymous 8-year-old primary school student called by the alias Na-young was on her way to school in Ansan south of Seoul last December when a drunken man surnamed Cho took her to a nearby church bathroom.

As the child resisted, the 57-year-old abuser beat her and strangled her. He also repeatedly submerged her in the toilet until she lost consciousness.

During the following hour, Cho not only sexually assaulted Na-young several times but also caused a rupture in her intestines by attempting to remove his semen.

The aggressor then left the unconscious victim on the floor to flee to his home but was caught within hours, having left biological evidence all over on the scene and on himself.

Na-young, found near death by her parents, was taken to a hospital but was permanently deprived of her normal sexual functions despite an eight-hour surgery. She was also forced to have an artificial sack to replace her missing organs.

Cho, who was sentenced to a 12-year jail term in the two lower courts, appealed for a commutation but the Supreme Court last month confirmed his term by upholding the high court's ruling. Cho, when released from jail, is to wear a traceable electronic anklet for seven years and have his personal information open for public reference for five years, said court officials. Cho was a repeat offender, having been sentenced back in 1983 to three years in jail for rape and also to seven years and four months for non-sexual charges such as the use of violence. He was under no restriction or supervision, despite his past crimes.

Citizens have raged over the brutality of the crime and what seemed too light a sentence. In a major online portal, tens of thousands of netizens joined a campaign to censure the aggressor and demand that he receive a heavier punishment.

Some even requested that Cho be retried in court, blaming the court for being lenient, especially as the ruling judged him to be under the influence of alcohol.

As the crime was widely publicized in the media and public fury sharply soared, experts, lawmakers and high-ranking government officials also spoke out.

"Though it may be controversial to raise any objection to the court's legal judgment, I nevertheless feel wretched as president that such a crime should have occurred," said President Lee Myung-bak during a Cabinet meeting last Thursday. "I feel it appropriate that such grave felons should be separated from society for the rest of their lives."

The number of sexual abuse victims under the age of 6 has exceeded 150 every year since 2006, according to the National Police Agency. Among the 5,948 suspects who were investigated on charges of sexual abuses against children from January 2007 to July this year, 2,501 or were not prosecuted, according to the Justice Ministry data. Even among those who were prosecuted, only 0.4 percent were handed down a life sentence whereas more than 42 percent were fined and 30.5 percent received a suspended term, according to the Health Ministry data.

"Not only could the prosecutor and the court have attempted further to hand down a heavier punishment on the sexual abuser, our legal system itself needs fundamental revision regarding the issue," said Cho Kuk, criminal law professor at Seoul National University and member of the Supreme Court committee on criminal punishment guidelines.

(tellme@heraldm.com)
By Bae Hyun-jung
2009.10.06

Sexual aggressors to get tougher punishment

The Justice Ministry yesterday undertook revising the law on the sexual protection of minors, following the president's urge to step up social and legal measures against sex offenders against minors, according to officials.

Amid the social shock after a brutal sexual abuse case against an 8-year-old girl, President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday that those who abuse children sexually need to be segregated from society.

"Those who practice sexual violence against children are highly prone to committing a second offense," Lee was quoted as saying by an aide. "In order to prevent further victims, the personal information of such offenders needs to be more widely available for the public to refer to."

Under the present law, parents and educators may visit the district police station to refer to the name, age, face, address, actual residence and criminal records of the sexual convicts living in the neighborhood. The information is to become available on the internet starting next year.

The president also demanded that the Gender Equality Ministry and the Justice Ministry take charge of the protection of victims and the punishment of criminals.

According to the government revision submitted last month to the National Assembly, the present sexual violence law will be divided into the victim protection law and the sexual crime punishment law, according to officials.

"As the sexual crime law was administered by the Justice Ministry, we so far had little space to actively support the victims," said a ministry official. "Should the revision bill be passed by the Assembly, we will be able to coordinate an effective central post to help those who have been sexually abused."

Some experts, however, prefer to uphold a unified system, embracing the criminal punishment, preventive measures and victim protection.

"The law should rather provide ways to back up the underage victims' testimony, rather than keeping them away from the investigation processes," said the head of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center.

The issue of sexual crimes against minors was recently stirred by the case of a child called by the alias Na-young who was found to have been raped and permanently injured last December. The 57-year-old criminal, who had a criminal sexual offense record, was sentenced to a 12-year jail sentence, which was widely criticized to be too light.

(tellme@heraldm.com) By Bae Hyun-jung

Question
1. The definition of ‘child’ in dictionary is ‘a human being who is not yet an adult’.
Please define ‘child’ in your own word.
2. Many ways to prevent sexual crimes have been discussed since
issue of Na-young case became popular.
What is your opinion about devices for prevention of sexual crime?
3. In issue of punishments for sexual criminals, a point at issue is matter of criminals’ human rights.
What do you think about this point? Is it necessary to consider criminals’ human rights when
they get punishment for what they did?

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