This film highlights the seriousness of the problem of sexual crimes and the current weak legal response in South Korea, highlighting the need for stronger penalties and institutional improvements to protect victims and prevent recidivism. It discusses the low arrest rate despite the rise in sexual crimes, the reliance on settlements with victims, non-prosecution, and recidivism, and the importance of sexual crime prevention and awareness.
The recent case of the suicide of the sisters of an actress who committed suicide, which was intensively covered by a long-form channel, shocked the world. In the summer of 2004, her sister, who was working as a backup dancer, suggested that her sister, a graduate student, take a part-time job as a part-time actress while she was home on vacation. After starting the job, the normally quiet sister became violent, and it was shockingly revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by the managers of the supporting cast at a psychiatric hospital. The family filed charges against the captains, but the accused consistently denied that the sex was consensual, and the mentally distressed sister dropped the charges after repeated cross-examination, and the accused were acquitted.
But the case did not end there. At the time, her family thought she was simply going through changes caused by depression or anxiety, but in reality, she was suffering from a much deeper trauma. Five years later, after receiving ongoing psychiatric treatment, the older sister eventually committed suicide, and shortly thereafter, the younger sister was unable to overcome her guilt and took her own life. The tragic loss of two sisters in quick succession plunged the family into deep despair, and to add insult to injury, their father died of a brain hemorrhage a month later. Ironically, the criminals who destroyed this family are still brazenly doing the same thing today.
This case is not just a gossipy tale, but a stark reminder of how sex crimes and the lack of punishment in our society are so often ignored. This unbalanced situation, where victims suffer and lose their lives, and perpetrators live with impunity, demands deep reflection from society as a whole.
In addition to the continued increase in the rate of sexual offenses, the statistics of sex crimes in South Korea in 2023 also reveal new patterns. In particular, digital sexual offenses have increased dramatically. In 2023, approximately 243,000 illegally recorded and distributed sexual images and videos were taken down, more than eight times more than the previous year. A significant portion of these crimes are committed via the dark web, including many cases involving minors. However, despite the surge in sex offenses, the arrest rate for sex offenders continues to decline. The arrest rate dropped from 90.5% in 2007 to less than 80% in 2023, leaving thousands of sex crimes unsolved.
This situation has been blamed on a lack of preventative measures against digital sex crimes. Legal sanctions are lacking, and there is a great need for education and awareness. As a result, there is an urgent need for institutional improvements to protect and prevent victims of sexual offenses. For example, there is still a tendency for many to place blame on the victim and not ask why they ended up in the situation. This re-traumatizes victims, and a victim-centered approach is urgently needed to prevent sexual crimes from recurring.
Furthermore, recent statistics show that the percentage of sexual offense investigations that go to trial is still low. As of 2022, nearly 50% of sexual offense cases were dismissed without charges, a rate that remains similar to 2010. Notably, settlements with victims are playing an increasingly important role in the decision not to prosecute in sex offense cases. In 2022, one of the leading reasons for non-prosecution will continue to be victim settlements, which have made it easier for sex offenders to escape punishment.
In fact, past cases have shown that victim settlements have allowed offenders to re-offend with impunity. This not only causes more suffering for the victim, but also sends the wrong message to society as a whole. These issues suggest that stronger legal responses and victim protection measures are needed to prevent sexual crimes from recurring.
As the problem of sex crimes has become increasingly serious, various measures have been taken to eradicate it, such as chemical castration, disclosure of offenders’ identities, and electronic bracelet systems, but they have not been properly implemented due to some public opinion that the human rights of offenders should also be protected. The problem is that the recidivism rate of sex offenders released from prison is very high. According to 2022 statistics, 2,170 out of 20,897 sex offenders were recidivists, which means that about 10.4% of all sex offenders reoffended. Recidivists are committing the same type of offense again, and the harm they cause is becoming more severe.
The human rights of victims and society as a whole should no longer be compromised in favor of the human rights of offenders. As a result, tougher penalties for sex crimes are needed to reduce the high recidivism rate and deter potential offenders from committing new crimes. In addition to strengthening the legal response to sex offenders to deter them from reoffending, we also need institutional mechanisms to prevent sex crimes before they happen.
First, the current system of electronic bracelets and chemical castration is not effective in punishing sex offenders and reducing recidivism. Recent cases of sex crimes being committed while wearing an electronic bracelet, and the Ministry of Justice allowing the wearer to leave the country without clear standards, leading to the arrest of the wearer as an undocumented immigrant, show that poorly managed electronic bracelets have little deterrent effect. In addition, chemical castration, a method of reducing sexual urges by injecting drugs, is also problematic in that it is difficult to sustain the effect unless the drug is continuously injected.
It is therefore clear that these limited measures are not enough to stop sexual offenses in their tracks. In order to be more effective, it would be necessary to continuously monitor the psychological and mental state of sex offenders, and even consider completely isolating them from society. Unlike other criminals, sex offenders are more likely to reoffend, so they need to be monitored and managed more closely.
If we think about the victims and their families who have suffered physically and mentally from these criminals, as in the case of the suicides of the sisters of the actresses mentioned above, we should not continue to use cotton-batting punishment as an excuse to rehabilitate these social misfits. In other words, punishment should not only serve as a means of re-educating offenders and putting them on the right path. It is important to remember that punishment is also about making the guilty pay for their crimes, which can help victims feel better and serve as a warning to society at large.
Other developed countries have taken a hard line against sex-related crimes with “zero tolerance” laws. For example, the United States’ 1994 Sex Trafficking Act takes strong measures to isolate sex offenders who are likely to reoffend from society by forcibly committing them to psychiatric hospitals, with the intention of keeping them away from society even after their sentences have expired. These laws have been effective in preventing repeat offenders from reoffending. In addition, ex-offenders are publicly identified online so that their locations can be tracked, and smartphone apps have been created that allow people to see if there is a sex offender living in their neighborhood and seek help if needed. In this way, the U.S. has gone beyond just disclosing information, but has taken a more practical and effective approach to preventing sex offenders from reoffending.
France also takes a very tough stance on sexual offenses. Under the Evrard law, child molesters are subject to mandatory isolation, meaning they can never return to society. The law stems from a 2004 sentence handed down to an offender who killed a child after sexually assaulting him, and is designed to prevent him from reoffending. More than a dozen European countries, including Denmark and Sweden, have also legislated chemical castration for sex offenders to keep them out of society. These developed countries have adopted various measures to punish sex offenders and prevent them from reoffending, and they are working.
In contrast, South Korea has relatively weak penalties for sex offenses. Under the guise of protecting the human rights of sex offenders, punishments are often inadequate, leaving sex offenders in an environment where they can commit crimes again without much fear. In response to this, South Korea has been discussing harsher penalties for sex offenders, but there are still many challenges before legal and institutional improvements can be made.
Not only is the current response to sexual crimes in South Korea inadequate, but victim protection is also lacking. Even when victims do report the crime, they often do not receive adequate protection from the police or judicial authorities, which often leads to secondary victimization. To address these issues, laws and systems need to be strengthened to protect victims of sexual crimes, and support systems need to be put in place to provide victims with quick and practical help.
Furthermore, education and awareness are key to preventing sexual crimes. Many sexual crimes stem from distorted perceptions of sexuality, and these perceptions are formed in childhood. Therefore, it is essential to provide proper sex education and instill healthy values about sexuality from an early age to prevent sexual crimes. In order to eradicate sexual crimes, it is important not only to impose legal penalties, but also to change the social perception of sexual crimes.
The media also plays an important role in changing social perceptions of sexual crimes. If a drama, movie, or advertisement glorifies or trivializes sexual crimes, it can contribute to a distorted perception of sexual crimes. Therefore, media coverage of sexual crimes needs to be handled with care and should serve as a wake-up call and a reminder of the seriousness of sexual crimes.
In the end, the problem of sexual offenses is not just about legal penalties. It is necessary to raise awareness of sexual crimes throughout society and take practical measures to protect victims. South Korea will need to eradicate sexual crimes and ensure the safety of the entire society by strengthening the punishment for sexual crimes and establishing legal and institutional mechanisms to protect victims.
The way forward for South Korean society is to explore various ways to prevent sexual crimes along with stronger penalties for sexual crimes. This means that the entire society must work together to fundamentally prevent sexual crimes and ensure that victims do not suffer again.
