Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Jung-ok said today (15th) that in connection with the release of Cho Doo-soon, an elementary school student abductor and rape criminal, "it is not possible to disclose the detailed address of Jo Doo-soon to the system for disclosing the identity of sex offenders."



Minister Lee said at the National Assembly's Committee on Women and Families, saying, "When Cho Doo-soon was detained, personal information protection took precedence."



"Currently, sex offender information is disclosed to the building number, but Jo Doo-soon is subject to the past laws," said the minister. "A bill has been proposed by the National Assembly to retroactively apply this regulation to Cho Doo-soon."



Minister Lee said, "We are actively cooperating with the prosecution and the Ministry of Justice on quarantine measures and surveillance systems," regarding the opinion that sex offenders with high probability of recidivism, such as Cho Doo-soon, should be isolated from society.



Regarding the prosecution's decision to hand over the Democratic Party lawmaker Mi-hyang Yoon and the Justice Memory Solidarity (Eui-yeon Jeong) to the trial, he said, "If there is a case in which Jeong Eui-yeon violated the law while executing the subsidy project for leisure, we will take strict measures."



Minister Lee emphasized that "(not yet implemented) Eui-yeon's subsidy payment project for the second half of the year needs time for legal review," he said. "As the Chuseok holiday is approaching, we will prepare so that there will be no setbacks in supporting Japanese military comfort women victims."



Regarding the fact that the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's sexual assault victim was revealed to have suffered another sexual violence victim in April by an employee of the secretary's office, Lee said, "I was aware of the related facts in July, before the report."



Minister Lee added, "After (April) the secretary's office rape incident, we requested measures to prevent recurrence, but we have not yet received a response from the city."



(Photo = Yonhap News)