Anchor: Hundreds of thousands of people in South Korea have signed petitions on the presidential office's website, calling for convicted child rapist Cho Doo-soon to remain in prison, even after his 12-year prison term ends on December 13. While the government has put forth measures to prevent Cho from repeating his crimes, political parties are introducing bills aimed at increasing punishment for recidivism and better monitoring convicted criminals after release.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Earlier this week, the Justice Ministry unveiled a set of measures to prevent convicted child rapist Cho Doo-soon from re-offending when he is released in December after completing a 12-year prison sentence.

Cho received his sentence after he kidnapped, then brutally assaulted and raped an eight-year-old girl in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, in December 2008.

On top of court orders to publicize Cho's personal information online for five years and for Cho to wear an electronic anklet to track his movement for seven years, the ministry said a probation officer will be solely assigned to him.

Considering Cho's history of committing crimes while intoxicated, the ministry plans to seek a court order barring Cho from drinking over a certain amount, banning him from facilities with children and restricting his outdoor activities.

With only three months left until Cho's release, lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are introducing bills to prevent recidivism by convicted criminals involving sexual crimes against minors.

Ruling Democratic Party(DP) Rep. Kim Young-ho says stringent punishment should be introduced so that those who committed sexual crimes against minors never fall into recidivism.

[Sound bite: Democratic Party Rep. Kim Young-ho (Korean/English translation)]
"The special bill on life imprisonment for criminals who recommit sexual crimes against minors, which I introduced, aims to isolate those who recommit the same crime after release permanently from society."

The main opposition People Power Party is preparing a bill on partially isolating convicted sex criminals deemed especially dangerous to society after their release.

Rep. Yang Kum-hee said concerns over the criminals' human rights violations are being taken into account.

[Sound bite: People Power Party Rep. Yang Kum-hee (Korean/English translation)]
"Some criminal psychologists say they can mostly predict who will recommit the same crime. So if we applied [the isolation system] only to those people, women in our society would feel a lot safer."

Yang stressed that the bill focuses on protecting convicted criminals, rather than restraining them.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.