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| Residents of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province hold a rally calling for eviction of serial rapist Park Byung-hwa, who is currently living there after being released from prison at the end of October. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting ten women between December 2002 and October 2007. Newsis |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Notorious child rapist Cho Doo-soon's recent attempt to move his residence has infuriated residents of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who are demanding his eviction from the city.
The 70-year-old ex-convict, who has been living with his wife in Wa-dong in the city after being released from prison in December 2020, had recently signed a deal to rent a house in Seonbu-dong after his contract expired.
His wife initially told the landlord that her husband is an ordinary office worker. But the landlord, who later discovered Cho's identity, immediately canceled the agreement. Cho served 12 years in prison after kidnapping and brutally raping an 8-year-old girl in 2007.
Residents of Seonbu-dong, who strongly protested against the child rapist's attempt to move into their neighborhood, held a rally in front of Ansan City Hall on Nov. 24, demanding the authorities evict Cho from the city.
Last month, Park Byung-hwa, 39, a serial rapist who was released after 15 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting 10 women between December 2002 and October 2007, settled in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. He moved into a residential district where two elementary schools and one high school are located within a three kilometers radius of his home.
Residents have held multiple rallies calling for Park's eviction. In response, the local government has additionally installed 30 surveillance cameras in the area and is distributing window locking devices and safety alarm gadgets to women living nearby, but such measures have done little to assuage their concerns about possible re-offending by the ex-convict.
Even though registered sex offenders are closely monitored by probation officers, an absence of restrictions blocking heinous criminals from residing near schools and child-related facilities is highly unnerving for residents in the neighborhood.
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| Cho Doo-soon arrives at a probation center in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, after being released from prison in December 2020. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-suk |
In some states in the U.S., Jessica's Law is in place. This law restricts habitual sex offenders from residing near schools, parks and other places children gather. A similar bill has been proposed at the National Assembly here, but legal experts were skeptical about its effectiveness in Korea, which is a very densely populated country.
"Such a law is unrealistic to apply in Korea, especially in Seoul and its surrounding regions, considering that schools, cram schools, kindergartens and child-related facilities are virtually everywhere," Seung Jae-hyun, a researcher at the Korean Institute of Criminology, told The Korea Times. "Plus, there is a possibility that the law can be abused by some people who would be willing to open a child-related facility to make their neighborhood an off-limit zone to ex-convicts."
Instead, the criminology expert urged the government to find fundamental solutions to ease the concerns among neighbors of heinous criminals.
"The government should establish a treatment facility at which certain ex-convicts such as murderers and sex offenders could be held after their release from prison for treatment purposes," he said.
A possible launch of a separate facility to treat ex-convicts with psychiatric disorders has long been discussed in Korea, but has not been implemented so far due mainly to protests from human rights groups, who view it as a violation of human rights.
Speaking on the opposition from human rights groups to the idea, Seung said, "The facility should be carefully designed to be centered on treating the convicts, not to confine and punish them. It should be staffed with medical professionals and psychologists."
"Another option I'm thinking of suggesting to the authorities is to raise the limit of standard determinate sentences to 50 years from the current 30. This way, the longest period a heinous criminal can be held in prison would be 50 years, drastically lowering the chance for the person to be released back to society," he explained.
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