In the past five years, 17 victims targeted by relationship crimes were murdered despite receiving smartwatches, according to information obtained from the National Police Agency by Yang Bu-nam, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on October 16. The data indicates that from 2022 until December 12, there were 17 recorded murders and 10 attempted murders.
The reasons for these incidents include 14 cases of domestic violence, 10 cases of stalking, 8 cases of dating violence, and 1 case of sexual violence. Stalking crimes often occurred alongside domestic and dating violence.
According to Yonhap News, one contributing factor is that even though smartwatches provide a buffer, their batteries typically last only up to three days, placing the burden of device management on the victims.
This year, crimes that smartwatches could not prevent continued. On December 12, a man in his 60s fatally stabbed a woman in her 40s in Jeju. The victim had a smartwatch and a personal alarm, but the smartwatch was found damaged at the time of the incident.
Additionally, there are concerns about the limitations of measures to prohibit the perpetrator's access. According to data received by Park Eun-jung from the Justice Innovation Party, violations of provisional measures under the Stalking Punishment Act, which include prohibiting access within 100 meters and using electronic communication to contact the victim, increased from 58 cases in 2021 to 1,103 cases last year.
The current Stalking Punishment Act includes provisions for attaching electronic tracking devices to perpetrators and detaining them in detention centers. However, the actual rate of these applications leading to court decisions remains low.
As a result, there are calls for not only strengthening protective measures for victims but also enhancing physical sanctions such as monitoring and isolating high-risk offenders.
In response, the government is seeking to improve the response system for relationship crimes, including stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence, while the police are considering raising the level of sanctions for violations of isolation measures and access prohibitions for domestic violence offenders to match those for stalking crimes.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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