The Report on Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Korea
police failed to locate the victim and went to the wrong location. The victim made
a report again, but was killed before the police arrived.
This case raised much criticism on the effectiveness of the protective custody
system and the protection system. The victim filed 5 official reports to the police
during a 11-month period, but she was not protected by the police, in the end.
Moreover, the smart-watch issued by the police did not work properly. This is a
criticism from failing to live up to the people’s trust in police to respond properly
under emergency situations. The Seoul Police Agency apologized to the victim, the
victim’s families and the people on Nov. 22, 2021, and stated they would establish
a task force to improve responses to stalking crimes and prevent recurrence.
B) Police’s Measures for On-Site Responsiveness and Raising Criticisms
The police is obligated to prevent crimes to protect the people’s life and body,
and must protect the crime victims upon the occurrence of a crime. This is the
‘government’s duty to protect the people’s life and body through the use of the
police.‘However, as seen from the above cases, the police failed to properly
perform their duties, and issues were exposed at every step, from responding to
the scene, protecting the victims and the issues of concealing the case, etc.
The police has said to establish a systematic foundation to improve the
responsiveness at the scene, through training and aligning a manual, etc. However,
problems of the police’s responsiveness at the scene has been raised continuously,
and simply reinforcing the training cannot resolve the problem.22)
First is the problem with the number of police officers available. According to
the National Police Agency, there are approximately 20,000 person-protection
measures in a year, and the number is increasing each year. This means 1 police
22) Hankyoreh, “Insufficient Responses Seen by 10 Police Officers ... Rampage with the Deadly Weapon and the
Murder of a Woman in Protective Custody,” Nov. 28, 2021.
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