Police Announce More Sex Crime Arrests

Amid the heightened awareness of sex crimes following the murder of an elementary school student in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, more sex offenders are being apprehended across the nation.

The Pocheon Police in Gyeonggi Province arrested an army private, “An” (22. Pocheon City) for raping and sexually abusing eight girls, including private schoolers, and handed him over to the military police yesterday.

An is charged with raping a second grader in elementary school on the roof of an apartment building in Pocheon City.

The police said, “Private An admitted that he had committed sexual offenses against eight girls, including seven elementary school girls and one high school girl beginning June 2004 [before he joined the army].”

In addition, the Choengju Seobu Police requested an arrest warrant for “Yang” (32. unemployed) yesterday for sexually assaulting women living alone or fleecing them of money and other goods 24 times nationwide, including Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheong Province, and Gyeongbuk Province. One of his alleged assault victims was a 21-year-old on her way home in Cheongwon-gun, Chungbuk Province, at around 10:00 p.m., on November 13, 2004.

In other cases, “Cho” (19), an ethnic Korean from China, was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman in Seoul, and “Seong” (36) was booked without detention for sexually harassing a high school girl while he was drinking with her at his house.

Kyung-Hyun Nam bibulus@donga.com straw825@donga.com