In a high-profile case that triggered calls for legal reform, a South Korean man was sentenced to nine years in prison for stalking a woman he ultimately killed.
“We deliver a heavier sentence (on the stalking charges) considering the victim was murdered,” the Seoul Western District Court said in its verdict, according to The Guardian.
Jeon Joo-hwan, 31, stalked and intimidated a former coworker over nearly two years, the court found.
Police judged him “low risk,” even though he continued to harass the woman, who had filed a second stalking case against him earlier this year.
Jeon is accused of stabbing the lady to death in a metro station restroom in central Seoul on September 14. The 28-year-old victim, who has not been named, was stabbed multiple times after finishing her evening shift at Sindang station in central Seoul.
He informed investigators he was outraged by his victim’s legal troubles. After the victim reported him for stalking at Seoul Metro, he was dismissed from his place of work.
The court ordered him to take 80 stalking treatment hours and 40 sexual assault prevention hours.
The defendant “murdered the victim after submitting letters of apology to the court”, it further stated.
Jeon will be prosecuted and sentenced separately on murder allegations, which he has not contested. He was reported to have told reporters that he had done something insane.
The killing shocked South Korea and fueled criticism that law enforcement failed to protect the victim, notwithstanding her reporting the man twice within six months.
South Korea passed new stalking laws in 2021, but advocates say the police and courts don’t take them seriously. An anti-stalking law carrying a maximum three-year prison sentence that was passed last October has been condemned as flawed, since it permits police to take action only with the consent of the victim. Since the law came into force, police have made 7,152 arrests for stalking, but only 5 per cent of the suspects have been detained.
President Yoon Suk-yeol has instructed officials to prevent such crimes, saying the current legal framework is “insufficient to safeguard victims.”
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