Court sentences stalker to 1 year 6 months
Na, a student of S University who had been charged for cursing, threatening and shadowing a classmate for five months (reported in 628th edition of The Women's News), was sentenced to a prison term.
On November 23, Na, who had been indicted for stalking someone using the telephone (suspected of violating the Laws regarding the Punishment of Acts of Violence), was ordered to appear at the No. 2 Single-Judge Criminal Court of the Seoul District Court, where judge Yoon Hyun Joo found him guilty as charged, gave him a 1-year-6-months' sentence, and put him under immediate arrest.
The recent ruling carries great significance, considering the fact that the lack of anti-stalking laws had caused stalking to be regarded as a petty crime unless it led to kidnap, rape or murder. Womenlink Korea and the Family and Gender Counseling Center, who had been supporting the victim throughout the court hearing, welcomed the court ruling in a commentary, saying, "The judicial branch's strong resolve to punish stalkers will change society's regard of stalking as a negligible act of violence or even a romantic form of courting." Kwon Su Hyun, education chief of the Counseling Center, hopes that "the ruling will serve as an opportunity to put in place legal measures to punish and rehabilitate stalkers and protect and treat victims."