Arrests of suspects in stalking, domestic violence and other "relationship crimes" rose more than 40% this year as South Korean police stepped up enforcement. Orders requiring stalking suspects to wear electronic monitoring devices jumped about fivefold in a year, part of a sharp expansion in measures to separate offenders from victims.
The Korean National Police Agency said on the 1st that it arrested 43,788 suspects in stalking and domestic violence cases between January and August, up 41.6% from 30,924 in the same period last year. Pretrial detentions rose 15.1% to 839 from 729.
Other measures to separate offenders from victims also increased. Decisions to hold stalking and domestic violence suspects in custody rose 47.1% to 893 from 607 in the January-to-August period a year earlier. Orders for electronic monitoring devices on stalking suspects surged 388.4% to 757 from 155.
Police said they are moving to isolate offenders at an early stage because crimes between people in close relationships carry a high risk of repeat offenses and can escalate into violent crime.
The same approach continued through the Chuseok holiday. During this year's holiday from the 24th to the 27th of last month, police sought an average of 9.8 pretrial detention warrants a day in stalking and domestic violence cases, up 88.5% from 5.2 during last year's Chuseok holiday. Daily requests for custody rose 23.5% to 6.3 from 5.1, while requests for electronic monitoring devices climbed 45.8% to 3.5 from 2.4.
In one case on the 22nd of last month, police made an emergency arrest of a suspect who went to the home of a victim who had refused to meet the suspect, dragged the victim to a stairwell leading to an apartment building's rooftop, assaulted the victim and attempted rape. Police connected the victim with a Sunflower Center, a state-run support facility for victims of sexual violence, and persuaded the victim to testify after an initial refusal. That led to additional findings of attempted rape, illegal filming and threats using the footage, and the suspect was detained. Police also applied stalking charges over the visit to the victim's home and imposed emergency measures including a no-contact order.
In another case, a suspect serving a four-year prison term on charges including preparation for murder sent letters to the suspect's ex-wife, stalking and threatening the victim. The suspect was detained again before release.
On the 24th and 25th of last month, police arrested a suspect on the day a complaint was filed. The suspect had stalked and raped a former partner who had ended the relationship and had threatened to distribute a sex video. While questioning the victim, police confirmed that the suspect was calling and texting the victim and had visited the victim's home. Assessing the suspect as high-risk, they formed an arrest team and a victim protection team. The suspect was then caught in the act, and police simultaneously sought a pretrial detention warrant and interim measures including custody and electronic monitoring.
Police plan to conduct another full review of relationship crimes at the end of the year.
"Unlike other crimes driven by profit, relationship crimes are extremely dangerous because they combine a sense of betrayal and anger toward the other person with despair and a destructive state of mind," an official at the Korean National Police Agency said. "Police are working to respond firmly from the earliest stage and isolate offenders, so it is important that victims report actively."
The official added: "At the end of the year, we will carry out another full review of relationship crimes, and we will continue to respond closely so that we can close the gaps in victim protection."
