(News Focus) Repeat sex offenders reveal holes in safeguards for children

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- Another brutal child rape has occurred near a school
in broad daylight, revealing loopholes in the sex crime countermeasures recently
enforced to combat repeated sexual assaults against minors.
Seoul police Wednesday arrested a 44-year-old man on charges of kidnapping and
raping an eight-year-old girl at her school in southern Seoul on Monday morning.
The suspect, Kim Soo-chul, was a convicted sex offender who was released
unsupervised in 2002 after completing a 15-year jail term for raping a woman in
front of her husband.
South Koreans are furious over the case, as the nation is still reeling from a
similar case in 2009 in which an eight-year-old girl was left permanently injured
after being raped by a man on her way to school. The perpetrator received a
lighter-than-expected 12-year sentence as he was drunk at the time of the crime,
sparking public resentment over leniency toward sex offenders.
"This case is so shocking because it happened inside the school in daytime. If
schools cannot protect their students inside their borders, how can we send our
kids to school without worry?" Kim Jae-jin, a father of two teenaged daughters,
said. "Some ultra-strong measures are needed to be taken before it's too late."
In a separate case in March, a 13-year-old schoolgirl in the southern port city
of Busan was raped and murdered by a repeat sex offender, who had also been
recently released from jail. The suspect was neither listed on the sex offender
registry nor was he wearing an electronic anklet.
Public outrage has centered on why sex offenders have been left unsupervised
after their release and whether the criminal justice system really works.
The new laws on sex crimes passed by parliament in March call for tougher
punishment for offenders, including longer imprisonment, strengthening electronic
monitoring and extending the statute of limitations.
However, since the revised law applies to convicts who finished their jail term
after July 2007, those who were imprisoned before the period are not subject to
wearing an electronic anklet and live with no strict restrictions, as shown in
the case of Kim, whose previous crime took place more than two decades ago.
Meanwhile, a new rule to disclose on the Internet the identities of all convicted
pedophiles took effect in January. However, there have not been any disclosures
of sex offenders' information yet, as the new law applies only to those who were
ordered after Jan. 1 to have their information shown on the Internet, said the
government Web site.
Experts point out the harsh punishment cannot solve the problems and demand more
prevention and rehabilitation programs.
"Harsh punishment alone cannot solve the sex crime problem. Authorities should
expand the scope of psychological treatment for pedophiles so that they are less
likely to repeat violent crimes after getting out of jail," Kim Young-ran, head
of the Namu Female Rights Counseling Center, said.
In response to the growing pressure to beef up safety near school areas, the
Education Ministry announced a plan Thursday to strengthen monitoring systems
within schools and increase guards near elementary schools nationwide.
"The tragedy has given us an opportunity to review the current system and fill in
gaps and weaknesses," Park Jung-hee, an official at the ministry said. "We
understand parents' concerns over their children's safety and will put more
efforts to secure their safety with a stronger monitoring system all-year-round."
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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