How can we protect victims from stalking?
SBS 'I want to know', which was broadcast on the 1st, lit up the crime of stalking with the subtitle 'Life risking hide and seek - the demons in front of my house'.
Na-ri is an Internet broadcaster who hosts food shows on the Internet. He often met with viewers offline and occasionally hosted live broadcasts together.
Then he asked the producers for help. It is said that Mr. Park, who enjoys Nari's broadcast, has personally contacted him or engaged in bizarre actions after meeting offline. Sending a message to an unknown personal cell phone or hovering around Nari's house, making Mr. Nari uneasy.
Nari reported this to the police. However, when Mr. Park questioned him about stalking, he acted as a counterintuitive, arguing that he might have to pay a fine. After reporting to the police, he pressured Nari by sending a message on his SNS status or to his acquaintances.
In the end, Mr. Nari started collecting data about Mr. Park, who risked his life and threatened him. The police took the position that "what did not happen cannot be punished," and in order to punish the perpetrator, the victim must prove that the perpetrator is threatening, so the victim, Na-ri, had no choice but to come in person.
In the end, conclusive evidence was submitted, and the court ordered Park to restrain access for two months. However, Park deliberately came to Na-ri's neighborhood while being banned from access, and Park was ordered to detain for 10 days for violating the provisional measures of the Stalking Punishment Act.
However, even in such a situation, he did not stop mocking and threatening the victim, saying "I don't know that there is a camera in the room" in his SNS status message.
So, after asking questions, the production team found Park's house and had a direct conversation with him. Following the reporters meekly, Park asked how he found his house. Nevertheless, he kept his mouth shut as to the reason for visiting Na-ri's house. In particular, when asked if his behavior was stalking, he said, "Isn't it okay to pay a fine?"
Mr. Park is displeased with the production team's visit. However, the change in the license plate of his vehicle, which Mr. Nari witnessed, was caught and attracted attention. And Park expressed his displeasure by reporting the production crew to the police as a trespassing.
Fortunately, in the case of Na-ri, if Park approached again, criminal punishment was possible. If so, can the victim return to a peaceful life if the perpetrator is punished?
Actor Kwak Jin-young revealed that he suffered from stalking for four years. At first, the perpetrator approached as a fan and at some point showed his obsession with him, and when Kwak Jin-young blocked calls and texts for this behavior, the perpetrator transferred 1 won each to his account and sent threats and slanderous messages.
Also, when he did not open the door, he often came to the neighborhood where Kwak Jin-young lived and harassed him by making loud noises. Prior to the enforcement of the Stalking Punishment Act, when a civil request was made to ban access, the perpetrator continued to harass the victim by holding a one-man protest.
In the end, the victim, Kwak Jin-young, even tried to make an extreme choice. He suffered from severe depression and was still under psychiatric treatment until recently. Currently, the perpetrator Kim was arrested and handed over to trial on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act, breaking into a residence, and defaming his/her reputation.
However, the perpetrator threatened him by sending a 16-page long blackmail letter threatening Kwak Jin-young even from the detention center.
When asked if he was afraid of retaliation, Kwak Jin-young said, "Of course.
A psychiatrist said, "The biggest pain for stalking victims is that their sense of security is violated. There is no safe place for them. I suffer from anxiety that the perpetrator may have done something to harm me. will," he said.
In November of last year in Seoul, 35-year-old Kim Byung-chan, stalking and killing his girlfriend.
The victim's girlfriend made four reports about Kim Byung-chan, and provisional measures were taken. However, Interim Measure No. 4, which is the strongest detention or detention, was not implemented. And after a while, Kim Byung-chan brutally murdered his girlfriend.
Under the current law, even if the offender violates emergency measures, he/she is subject to a fine for negligence. As a result, the perpetrators were not so afraid of punishment.
Overseas, it was different from domestic. In the UK, on the first occasion, an emergency arrest was made and a summary indictment was sentenced to one year in prison, and a formal trial was sentenced to five years. However, in most cases in our country, tragedy struck before the first opportunity came.
In December of last year, Shin's wife was murdered by a gangster. In particular, the son who was in elementary school with his wife at the time suffered serious injuries, causing regret. The perpetrator of this crime is Lee Seok-jun, 26, who lived with Shin's daughter in the past.
Shin suffered from this incident, saying, "I could have prevented it enough." Five days before the incident, Shin's daughter notified Lee Seok-jun of separation. Infuriated by this, Lee Seok-jun assaulted Shin's daughter and even sexually assaulted him. In addition, the cell phone was also damaged to block contact with the outside world.
Then, he took Shin's daughter to Daegu to say hello to her parents, and in that situation, Shin's daughter entered a computer chat room and immediately contacted her friend. reported
Shin's daughter claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by Lee Seok-jun and informed him of the damage, but Lee insisted that the relationship was consensual. In the end, the police released Seok-Jun Lee, saying there was no justification to let him go, and Mr. Shin requested the protection of his daughter. However, only four days later, his wife suffered a catastrophe.
The police explained why Lee Seok-joon was discharged at the time, saying, "There was no fear of destroying evidence or escaping, and there was no thought of murder." The police also said that it was too late to review the records handed over to Lee Seok-jun's residence. Before the incident, Seok-Jun Lee was able to move around freely.
Before the incident, Seok-Jun Lee met with a lawyer specializing in sexual assault and said that he would cook for his friends and bring a knife and leave the house. And before the incident, he lied to his acquaintances about his actions.
In particular, he said he had met a friend two days before the crime, but he was wandering around Shin's house at the time. However, returning because he did not know the exact address, he asked the Heungshinso to find out the address of Mr. Shin's house, and he received the address within 40 minutes and committed the crime immediately.
What victims of stalking crimes want is a simple return to normal life. However, none of the victims could easily achieve such a simple dream.
In 11 years since the implementation of the personal disclosure system, the identities of 10 suspects, the largest number, were released last year. However, half of them were accused of stalking, dating, or retaliatory murder. And it turned out that they showed obvious prognostic symptoms before the event in common. But it didn't stop crime. If there had been active monitoring and strict measures against them before the incident, would the result have been different?
Some states in the United States have introduced systems to actively monitor perpetrators.
This was being implemented with the intention that the victim himself or the investigative agency could know it in order to protect the victim.
I think it's time for us to think about such a plan to prevent the unfair death of the victim.
Since the first enforcement of the Stalking Punishment Act in October 2021, the number of reported cases of stalking damage has averaged over 100 per day, which is more than four times the number before enforcement.
What can be done to effectively keep the safety of these many victims?
As a comprehensive measure to strengthen on-site response capabilities, the police announced that they would immediately start an investigation into stalking-related incidents accompanied by violence and actively implement emergency and interim measures to separate the perpetrators from the perpetrators.
They also urged the law to be amended as soon as possible, saying that the regulation of fines for violating emergency measures should be changed to criminal punishment.
Along with these efforts of the police, what our society needs is to make the perpetrators more afraid in order to completely protect the victims.
Broadcasting expected that we would surely find an answer, just as the Stalking Punishment Act was implemented with difficulty.
(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jung)