Legislative Update: Recent Amendments to South Korean Criminal Law: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Amendments have recently been made to South Korea’s Crimes Act in relation to child sexual abuse crimes. The maximum period of imprisonment was increased and new judicial orders, including orders for disclosure, orders of cure (through chemical castration) and orders for the use of a GPS tracking system, have been introduced. The background to these reforms was a series of horrific child sexual abuse crimes during the period 2008 to 2010 and the perception that the accused received lenient sentences, leading to criticism of Korea’s judiciary.