Ulsan court provokes outrage over alleged leniency for rapist

A court in the southern port city of Ulsan has drawn criticism after sentencing a convicted rapist who struck again after receiving early release from prison. The rapist received 18 years in prison rather than life sentence, sparking controversy that the penalty might be too lenient.

The Ulsan District Court handed down a 18-year prison sentence to the man, 52, from the city’s Dong district. He was arrested and indicted for violating the special laws on punishment of rape and robbery, robbery and injury and sexual crimes. The ruling also required public notice of his profile for 10 years and mandatory use of an electronic monitoring anklet for 20 years.

The man is known to have kidnapped a 30-year-old woman who was taking a walk at Ilsan Beach in Ulsan’s Dong district July 6 at around 1 p.m. to the forest. He beat her face with his fist and then raped her. He kept her at his side for five hours and raped her three times. Then, he took photos of her private part with a camera in her handbag and threatened her, by saying, “I will upload the photos on the Internet.” The victim cleverly proposed that the two go to a motel and took a taxi together, but then she shouted for help. The rapist fled the scene but was arrested four days later.

The ruling said, “The judges agonized over the need to completely isolate the defendant in light of public consensus on the need to sternly deal with sex crimes by giving him a life sentence in prison,” but added, “The defendant was underprivileged while growing up and served 19 years of a life sentence at age 25. To give him hope of a last chance to live a humane life, the court gave him a limited term of imprisonment of 18 years.”

He was also ordered him to follow seven rules, including not going to a beach, where he committed most of his crimes, a daily curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and a limit on his blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent.

The man was given life in prison in November 1986 for threatening with a knife and raping four women ages 18 to 21 at Ilsan Beach from April 1984 to January 1986. He was recognized for good behavior while serving his term and given special remission in 1998 before receiving a conditional release on Feb. 28, 2005, some 19 years after his imprisonment.

The rapist, however, repeated his crime using a similar method he used in the past and at the same place seven years after his release.

He also did not use his electronic monitoring anklet at the time of the crime because of he committed his crimes before the electronic monitoring anklet system was introduced to Korea in September 2008.

Laws on sex crimes were revised in July 2010 to require sex offenders to wear the anklets retroactively, but he was again exempt from this policy.

raks@donga.com