7-26-2010 Korea:
Are you concerned that a convicted sex offender is possibly residing in your neighborhood? A new website (www.sexoffender.go.kr) allows you to check your area on an electronic map to access this information.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Monday it launched a website providing detailed personal data about convicted sex criminals in a post-release supervision program.
Adult Koreans — aged 20 or older — are entitled to free access to the information after completing a multi-layer identity verification process. The website is Korean-language only.
This means it is not available to the world!
Details available include a photo, address, age, height, weight and brief explanation of the offender’s criminal records and consequent court verdicts.
The court sets the period of time for which the personal data of each offender stays on the website, which is currently for up to 10 years upon release from prison.
At present, information on 10 offenders is being offered — two in Seoul, two in Gyeonggi Province, one in North Gyeongsang Province, one in Daegu, one in Ulsan, two in North Jeolla Province and one on Jeju Island.
“More than 400 offenders’ information will be available by September,” a ministry spokesman said.
However, the information should not be disseminated to the media. Those making the information public through mass media, including newspapers, magazines and TV, will face up to five years in prison or 50 million won ($41,800) in fines.
Those discriminating against the listed people in employment or education will face up to one year in prison or 5 million won in fines.
This is the toughest post-release supervision program on convicted sexual predators introduced on the back of a law, which was enacted in 2006 and drastically amended in 2008.
Before the 2008 amendment, the authorities provided such information in printed documents at local police stations. But it soon faced a public backlash for the cumbersome and time-consuming administrative steps to gain access to the information.
In response, the government allowed the data to be accessible online in 2008.
A brutal child rape case in 2008, in which an eight-year-old girl sustained permanent damage to her sexual organs by a middle-aged man identified as Cho Doo-soon, gave momentum to the amendment, the spokesman said. Cho is now behind bars after being sentenced to 12 years in prison. ..Source.. Park Si-soo, Staff reporter
No comments:
Post a Comment