South Korea’s Justice Ministry on Wednesday rejected what it called “fake news” reports disputing President Lee Jae-myung’s recent remarks about criminal records, saying the figures cited in the coverage were being misread. The National Assembly Research Service also said it is not possible to calculate a single, official total of people with criminal records or make reliable cross-country comparisons.
The ministry said some outlets reported that Lee’s comments were untrue, citing a reply from the research service that referenced U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime data. The coverage said the number of people convicted in South Korea in 2022 was about 384 per 100,000 residents.
The Justice Ministry countered with different figures from the Supreme Court’s “2023 Judicial Yearbook,” saying about 750,000 people were convicted in 2022 — about 1,460 per 100,000 residents. The ministry stressed that the number reflects annual convictions and “is not appropriate” to interpret as the total number of people with criminal records.
It said “people convicted in a given year” and “people with criminal records” are different concepts, because a yearly conviction count does not represent the accumulated number of people with prior criminal punishment histories.
In a separate clarification released the same day, the National Assembly Research Service said it did not provide any reply stating South Korea’s total number or share of people with criminal records, or data comparing such figures across countries. It said definitions and scope vary by country, making comparisons difficult, and that it is hard to find official domestic statistics showing a cumulative total.
The research service added that UNODC statistics also count newly convicted people each year and have limits for direct comparisons because legal systems and punishment standards differ. It said its reply was not intended to judge whether the president’s remarks were true or false.
The dispute stems from Lee’s comments at a Cabinet meeting on April 14, when he said, “Most people have a criminal record,” while criticizing what he described as overuse of criminal punishment. He said the principle of legality had “effectively collapsed.”
The government has since been pursuing an “economic penalties rationalization plan” to overhaul more than 1,000 laws that include criminal penalties. The plan would shift simple administrative violations or minor legal breaches to financial sanctions such as fines and penalty surcharges, and limit criminal punishment to cases where it is necessary.
As examples, the government is raising the cap on penalty surcharges for telecommunications operators that restrict contract cancellations from 1 billion won to 5 billion won, and reviewing a plan to impose penalty surcharges directly on parties involved in illegal loans by major bank shareholders. At the same time, it is moving to ease some criminal punishment provisions or convert them to administrative sanctions.
Political sparring has continued. The People Power Party condemned Lee’s remarks as “outrageous,” saying he smeared the public as criminals. The government says Lee was raising concerns to improve a sanctions system centered on criminal punishment.
The Justice Ministry and the National Assembly Research Service both emphasized that producing a single figure for the number of people with criminal records — or comparing such totals across countries — is not realistically possible.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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