A plaque on a restroom wall reads “Women Friendly Seoul.” This seemingly assuring phrase turns out to be a lie after a young woman is murdered at the Sindang subway station. The once blank wall below the plaque is now flooded with numerous messages on post-it notes from members of the South Korean community voicing their sorrow, fright, and anger.
An anti-stalking law has just recently come into place in Korea’s justice system, however, many still weren’t satisfied. It has been proclaimed that it is inefficient, having many loopholes. Furthermore, many have said it is possible for stalkers to threaten their victims into withdrawing cases. Data collected by the BBC from South Korea’s National Police Agency shows that since the stalking law was issued last year, 7,152 stalking arrests have been made, yet only 5% of the suspects have been detained. There have been multiple instances where the police applied to the courts to have the suspect detained, but were denied, as is the case with one in three requests.
Consequently, the alleged attacker, Jeon Joo-hwan, was never imprisoned nor given a restraining order when reported by the victim for stalking. Instead, the police responded by placing the victim under police protection until they concluded that she was safe. Soon after, the perpetrator resumed threatening and stalking. The victim was killed the day before the attacker was due to be sentenced for stalking her.
This event has led to an outcry as South Korean citizens’ express their feelings on the matter. My heart goes out to all the victims of this horrific trend of femicide happening not just in Korea, but around the world. It makes me question whether in the future, it’d be safe for young women to go out alone, but more importantly, how many others will have to experience femicide before it all finally comes to an end.
— Writer Tiarn Sripongtanakul can be reached at tiarn.me@gmail.com. Follow her on instagram @t1arn_.
