By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) said Thursday it will push for a revision of the criminal law restricting the length of imprisonment to 15 years ― in non-life sentence cases ― to toughen the punishment of perpetrators of rape and other crimes of violence.
"The criminal law is problematic as it sets the maximum prison term for certain offenses at 15 years. Due to these legal restrictions, the court cannot hand out heavier prison terms such as 20 or 40 years," said Rep. Ahn Sang-soo, floor leader of the GNP. "The National Assembly should review the law to abolish the ceiling on jail terms for perpetrators of certain inhuman crimes."
The announcement came amid escalating public anger over the Supreme Court's lighter-than-expected prison term for a habitual sex offender convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl, known only as Na-young. She suffered serious psychological and physical injuries when she was attacked in a public restroom while on her way to school in December last year.
Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for the 57-year-old, but the Supreme Court upheld Wednesday a lower court sentence of 12 years.
Rep. Ahn stressed that the judiciary and prosecution should heed mounting public anger over their leniency toward sex offenders.
President Lee Myung-bak also expressed regret over the ruling in the case at a weekly Cabinet meeting the same day. He instructed his ministers to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence.
"I think such a person should be permanently isolated from our society," Lee was quoted as telling the Cabinet.
Korea recently passed legislation forcing sex offenders, including child kidnappers, to wear electronic anklets as part of efforts to curb repeat offenses. The mandatory system gained traction after two teenage girls were abducted and murdered by a neighbor in Anyang, south of Seoul, in 2008.
The number of rape victims aged 15 years or younger was 2,674 last year, up from 2,178 in 2006 and 2,302 in 2007, according to an officer at the National Police Agency.