A bill was introduced by the Democratic Party of Korea to delete the kinship special provision applied to offenses such as harboring criminals and destruction of evidence under the Criminal Act. The intent is to fix the issue that the police officer father of Jang Yun-gi, who has been sent to trial for the murder of a high school girl in Gwangju, destroyed evidence but is not punished due to the kinship special provision.
Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party, on the 2nd introduced a Criminal Act amendment as the lead sponsor to delete the kinship special provision applied to harboring criminals and destruction of evidence. Under current law, regarding harboring and destruction of evidence for relatives, the principle of "lack of expectation of lawful conduct" is applied as a ground for justification, on the premise that it is difficult to expect lawful conduct toward relatives.
The kinship special provision for the offense of destruction of evidence specified in Article 155 of the Criminal Act is at the center of controversy in the case of Jang Yun-gi, who murdered a high school girl with a weapon in Gwangju. Jang is accused of murder with the purpose of rape after attempting to sexually assault the student in May, and Jang's father, an incumbent senior police officer, discarded related evidence, including a sex doll and a cellphone. Even for the same murder case, simple murder carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison, while murder with the purpose of rape is punishable by life imprisonment or death, creating a large disparity in sentencing.
There have also been cases where a person committed the offense of harboring criminals specified in Article 151 of the Criminal Act but was not punished because of kinship. According to Han's office, from July 2019 to Feb. 2020, a person identified as A, who aided the fugitive life of a biological father suspected of robbery resulting in death, was also acquitted in court under the kinship special provision. Although A knew the biological father was a deputy leader of a violent crime organization and a suspect, A avoided punishment due to the kinship special provision.
Han said, "The personal scope of application for Korea's kinship exemption is relatively broad compared with overseas, which favors offenders," and added, "In practice, Japan does not uniformly exempt sentences for destruction of evidence among relatives but evaluates the severity of each case individually."
Han continued, "Considering the trend of the times and to enhance the effectiveness of investigations, institutional improvements are necessary," and said, "By abolishing the kinship special provision under the Criminal Act, we will ensure thorough investigations into serious crimes and appropriate punishment for offenders."