제 10 호 The Need to Stop Stalking in the Name of Love
Kicker: SOCIETY(LAW)
The Need to Stop Stalking
in the Name of Love
:Until when should stalking be written off as an excuse of love?
By Eun-Jae Choi, Reporter
On March 25, 2021, a mother and daughters were killed one after another in an apartment in Nowon-gu, Seoul. The perpetrator's name is "Kim Tae-hyun," and he reportedly planned the crime because A, who he found out in an online game, cut off contact and did not meet him. Many people were shocked by the controversy over the crime of stalker Kim Tae-hyun, who appeared to have planned meticulously to kill three family members. However, additionally it is also known that Kim had stalked male students for years in the past. As a result, people have become more aware of stalking crimes as potential crimes that can cause murder, raising calls for improving the previously controversial stalking punishment law.
<Photo of Kim Tae-hyun, the perpetrator of the Nowon-gu murder case>
"Because I love you."
The saying, "There's no tree that doesn't go over 10 times" used to achieve goals after trying is very appropriate to compare the psychology of stalking criminals in modern society. Why did this proverb, which started in a good sense, become negative to people? The reason is that stalking criminals are rationalizing their behavior by substituting proverbs. In fact, stalking criminals have a similar psychology to proverbs in some ways. But the saying is that if the proverb stresses the importance of 'steady effort', criminals cause false obsession, delusions and murder and assault as their goals.
Why does a seemingly morbid* stalker happen? In fact, stalking criminals have a common morbid possessive and obsession with their counterparts. In this process, they do not consider the other person's intentions or feelings and show that they are all one-sided, such as expressing and demanding emotions. In the case of Kim Tae-hyun, who was mentioned earlier, he also showed strong obsession with the victim and continued to contact her and find her home address. Such a strong obsession can lead to a "delusional disorder." Delusional disorder is a state of misguided belief due to its distorted interpretation of reality. It also shows symptoms of having false thoughts about the other person's feelings or the person related to the other person and considering them as true. Therefore, even if the other party expresses its refusal, stalking is repeated because it interprets it in its own way and rather mistakes that it wants its obsession. Actually, criminal psychologists claim that the biggest cause of stalking is a sense of victimization caused by emotional deprivation*. Emotional deficiencies in family, relationships, and friendship lead to a sense of victimization, and psychology to compensate for them in the wrong way is at work. In addition, experts advised that the victim should not try to understand or listen to the perpetrators' obsession at all.
*Morbid: very interested in unpleasant things, especially death, and you think this is strange
*Deprivation: not have or are prevented from having something that you want or need
Awareness of overseas stalking
According to the National Police Agency, the number of stalking crimes reported between January and July 2020 was 2,756. An average of 13 stalking reports are received per day. However, only 298 of the 2,756 stalking crimes paid a fine of 80,000 won. Comparing the number of reports and punishment from 2018 to 2020, when stalking reports began to be managed, the number of punishments compared to the number of reports was only 19.62% in 2018, 10.6% in 2019, and 10.8% in July 2020. In other words, only one out of every 10 cases will be punished, and nine out of every 10 stalking suspects will not be punished. However, experts say stalking is a serious problem in that it is likely to develop into violent crimes such as assault, injury, confinement*, murder and sexual violence. How are stalking crimes handled overseas? First, the United States is the first country to criminalize stalking. In the 1990s, the government already established relevant regulations that defined stalking as a crime and strengthened punishment. In addition, a special law was enacted and enforced in the UK in 1997, while Germany established the "Punishment of Persistent Follow-Up Act" in 2007 to punish approaches or repeated contacts without consent from the other party. Japan also enacted the Act on the Regulation of Stalker Behavior in 2000. As the special law continued to be enacted in each country, we know that the difference can be seen in that stalking was classified as a serious crime with rapid response.
*Confinement: the state of being forced to stay in a prison or another place which you cannot leave
Changes made after 22 years
The need for legislation to strengthen the punishment of stalking crimes has continued to be raised, but since it was first proposed in the 15th National Assembly, a total of 14 proposals have been made to the 20th National Assembly, but not a single case has been passed at the plenary session. However, the stalking punishment law was passed by the National Assembly for the first time in 22 years due to the Kim Tae-hyun incident. If we look closely at this, the sentence and amount of punishment, such as imprisonment of up to five years or fines of up to 50 million won, have increased. It is surprising that the legislation has been enacted in recognition of the seriousness of stalking in 22 years, but there is also a hidden background. That is because of the clause* 'against the will of the victim'. The clause, set out in the bill, raised the issue of effectiveness because there is secondary abuse to victims and victims may be forced and threatened by perpetrators to avoid statements. Experts say, "People think the world has changed just by looking at the creation of the stalking punishment law. However, in reality, nothing changes unless a crime occurs, so the world can change accompanied by social perceptions that respect each other, not 'because of the law, because the law is scary. "
*Clause: a section of a legal document
As experts said earlier, legal measures are very necessary because a premature approach to stalker crimes may cause great anger, but they should also be improved in various fields such as counseling, education, and the environment to prevent such tragic incidents in society. In reality, stalking victims are constantly complaining of mental pain, but they are not protected just because there is no physical threat. In the wake of the "Kim Tae-hyun incident," protecting victims should be treated as a top priority so that they won't be able to endanger victims in society or around them and no more unfortunate incidents occur.
