Individuals posted handwritten notes in front of the women’s rest room where by a younger lady was stabbed to dying. Photo: Anthony WALLACE / AFP
A person in South Korea was sentenced to 40 many years in prison for stabbing a female colleague to death in a subway rest room soon after she noted him for stalking and harassment, in a circumstance that sparked nationwide phone calls for authorized reform.
Jeon Joo-hwan, 31, was identified responsible on Tuesday for murdering his 28-year-aged coworker, who has not been named. He called far more than 300 occasions above the study course of two a long time, begging her to go on dates and threatening to harm her if she didn’t comply.
However she submitted complaints with the law enforcement, authorities never detained Jeon since they deemed him “low risk.” He was sooner or later discovered guilty of stalking, but he carried out the murder on the night time of Sept. 14, the day prior to a court was established to rule on the stalking situation. Carrying a knife, Jeon waited for the victim for around an hour in front of the women’s restroom, right before heading inside and stabbing her to death.
The Seoul District Central Court named the murder a “revenge killing,” as Jeon missing his work as a subway station worker in 2021 soon after the girl complained about his stalking.
The murder prompted an outpouring of grief and anger across the place, with numerous faulting the authorities for not detaining him all through the police investigation or issuing an arrest warrant.
Critics also position to what they say is a loophole that prevents stalking perpetrators from staying brought to justice, as the regulation needs victims’ consent to cost their stalkers. Reform advocates argue the clause makes it possible for perpetrators to intimidate their targets into dropping their situations.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amending the regulation to remove the loophole, but parliament has however to move the bill. The stalking legislation was very first proposed in 1999 and ultimately passed in Oct 2021. Earlier, stalking-related crimes have been only taken care of as misdemeanors, punishable by a fine of up to 100,000 gained ($80).
Convicted stalkers can now be sentenced to a greatest three a long time imprisonment or a great of up to 30 million gained ($24,000), and more if they possessed a weapon.
Jeon will start his 40-year sentence for the murder following serving nine decades in jail for stalking, harassing, and nonconsensually filming his victim.
The Seoul court docket dominated against prosecutors’ calls for for a loss of life penalty for Jeon, expressing the guy, at 31, is continue to younger and could atone for his crimes.