Smartwatches issued to victims of stalking, domestic violence and other relationship-based crimes have reached a record high, yet victims wearing the devices continue to be killed every year. Because the system relies on victims reporting an attack after it begins, experts say police must move earlier to separate high-risk offenders from those they threaten.
Data obtained from the Korean National Police Agency by the office of Rep. Chae Hyun-il of the Democratic Party of Korea showed on the 14th that 26 victims who had been issued smartwatches were the targets of murder or attempted murder between 2022 and September this year. Fifteen were killed and 11 survived attempted killings. By year, there were eight cases in 2022, one in 2023, five in 2024 and nine in 2025.
Three victims who had received smartwatches were killed through September this year. On the 1st of this month in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, a woman in her 60s was fatally stabbed by her husband. She had reported domestic violence four times, had been issued a smartwatch and was registered with the 112 emergency response system for separate monitoring. Police arrived at the scene three minutes after she used the smartwatch to call for help, but she had already been stabbed.
A similar case occurred two months earlier in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. A woman in her 60s who was killed in retaliation by a man in his 50s she had previously dated was also wearing a smartwatch. Police again arrived within three minutes of the call but could not prevent the attack. In March in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, a stalking victim who had been issued a smartwatch was killed by an assailant wearing an electronic ankle monitor.
The repeated cases have raised doubts about how much the devices prevent harm. Location data reaches police only when the victim activates the alert, making it difficult to stop attacks that are planned in advance or unfold within seconds. Distribution of the devices has expanded as relationship-based crimes have increased, but their limits as a preventive tool are clear.
According to the police agency, smartwatches were issued 14,208 times in 2022 and 21,974 times last year, a record high. Another 15,209 were issued through July this year.
Provisional measures that block an offender's access outright, such as fitting an electronic ankle monitor or holding the offender in custody, require a court decision and are therefore harder to use aggressively. Approval rates are also low. Requests under Article 3-2 of the provisional measures in the Stalking Punishment Act, which covers electronic monitoring devices, rose from 325 in 2024 to 862 last year and jumped to 1,537 in the first half of this year alone. Court approval rates over the same periods were 32.6%, 37.2% and 33.2%. Requests under Article 4, which allows an offender to be held in a police lockup or detention center, totaled 1,710 in the first half of this year, but only 391, or 22.9%, were approved.
As a result, officers in the field say smartwatches are effectively serving as a stopgap, leaving protection dependent on victims raising an alarm because offenders are not adequately separated from them. Experts stress that in relationship-based crimes the offender often knows where the victim lives and moves, making pre-emptive separation of high-risk offenders necessary.
"In other countries, once the risk passes a certain threshold, the offender is detained first so the victim has time to draw up a safety plan, such as moving to a different residence, and after release their movements are tracked with electronic devices and applications," said Han Min-kyung, a professor of public administration at the Korean National Police University. "When deciding on separation measures, authorities need to weigh the risk of reoffending actively and quickly, not just the outcome of the crime."
Others are calling for larger budgets to expand protective measures beyond smartwatches, such as installing closed-circuit television cameras or providing private security. "The domestic violence killing in Gwangju exposed the limits of the protective measures taken by police, the courts and other agencies," Chae said. "If victim protection is not to remain a matter of acting after the fact, authorities need to make active use of artificial intelligence and build measures focused on prevention."
