On the 12th, a man in his 20s who tried to lure and drag away a middle school girl in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, was caught by police. Starting in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, on the 8th, then Seo District in Incheon on the 9th, Seogwipo in Jeju on the 10th, and Daegu on the 10th, attempts to abduct or lure minors have occurred roughly once a day over the recent five days. With signs that child abductions are spreading nationwide, local governments have moved to come up with countermeasures.
◇Seoul city to provide an "safety bell" that sounds an alarm in emergencies to all elementary students
Starting next year, the Seoul city government plans to provide an "elementary safety bell" to all first- through sixth-grade elementary students. In May this year, it accepted applications from 606 elementary schools in Seoul and supplied the devices free to first- and second-graders; it now plans to give them to third- through sixth-graders as well. There are a total of 360,000 elementary students in Seoul.
The safety bell is a type of safety device that emits an alarm. It attaches to a school bag, and when an emergency occurs, pressing the black button on the back triggers a warning sound. The warning sound is set at 100 decibels (dB). That is similar to a car horn and can be heard within a 50–70 meter radius. With sound spreading at that level, it can draw the attention of people nearby, and Seoul officials believe it could prompt a perpetrator to abandon an abduction attempt due to the pressure.
Parents of elementary students using the safety bell also report high satisfaction. In a survey by the Seoul city government of 6,325 elementary school parents and teachers about satisfaction with the device, 82% said they were satisfied. The share who said it helps with their children's safety was also 82%.
◇Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, to strengthen patrols by a citizen "safety corps"
Gwangmyeong in Gyeonggi Province decided to operate the "Gwangmyeong Safety Corps" to strengthen child protection. Centered on the Gwangmyeong Volunteer Center, the corps will include apartment volunteer groups, Parent Police, the Green Mothers' Association, and voluntary crime-prevention groups. The city also plans to recruit citizens to serve as members.
Those recruited will be divided into four zones—Gwangmyeong, Cheolsan, Haan, and Soha–Iljik—and will patrol day and night around school routes near schools, multi-unit dwellings, and residential areas where children travel to and from school.
Gwangmyeong also plans to push for a related local government ordinance so it can sustain the safety corps. The idea is to make it a standing organization for continuous operation. In addition, the city plans to expand CC (closed-circuit) TV around schools and strengthen citizen education.
◇Jung District in Daegu designates child protection zones; adds CCTV and strengthens patrols
Daegu is moving to prevent abductions by designating child protection zones. Such zones can be designated within 500 meters of daycare centers, kindergartens, and elementary schools. They are separate from school zone safety areas that aim to prevent traffic accidents by limiting vehicle speed to 30 kph. In child protection zones, closed-circuit (CC) TV is installed and patrols are strengthened. City, county, and district governments can designate them directly under the Enforcement Decree of the Child Welfare Act.
The child protection zone designation was introduced in 2008 after a series of child abduction-murder cases. However, Daegu had not designated any child protection zones for 17 years. On the 11th, Jung District in Daegu designated five locations as child protection zones, the first in the region. The targets are Jongno Elementary School, Daegu Station Hillstate Daycare Center, Dalseong Prugio Hillstate Daycare Center, Namsan Children's Park, and the Feb. 28 Memorial Park. The district also installed LED (light-emitting diode) guide signs that include child protection messages and "logojectors" that project wording onto the ground.