Names of Sex Offenders

The Commission on Youth Protection (CYP) (chairperson Kim Sung-Yi) under the prime minister`s office published the biographies of 169 sex offenders according to the `youth protection law` yesterday.

Offenders` names, ages, dates of birth, addresses (including city, province, and district), jobs and brief details of offences were posted on the CYP`s Internet homepage (www.youth.go.kr) for 6 months, and on the government gazettes and 16 nationwide government bulletin boards for one month.

The CYP said at the `instruction for the prevention of sex crimes against the youth` that ``sex crimes against the youth cause a fatal disorder to the young victims throughout their lives and destroy the basic ethics in our society. We published the biographies to prevent further crimes.``

As if the CYP acknowledged the some opponents who said that the publishing of biographies of offenders is the system of `guilty-by-association` to their family members, the CYP said that ``we sincerely ask the families of offenders to support and pay attention to the offenders in order for them to recognize their wrongs and to behave right.``

Of 309 offenders who received the final judgment between last July 1st and December 31st, 169 offenders were selected by the `review committee on the public listing of biographies of offenders`, and the types of crime included sexual violence (including attempted), forced rape, paying for sex with minors, and brokering of prostitution.

The number of youth victims of these offenders are 242, including 103 between the ages of 16-18 years old (42.5 percent), 65 (26.9 percent) between 13-15 years old, and 74 (30.6 percent) under 13 years old.

Meanwhile, people are concerned that it is highly possible to generate victims in good will if the names of offenders are common, since it was reported that there are at most tens of people who have the same name with the offenders living in the same city, province, and district.

Boo Hyung-Kwon bookum90@donga.com