As stalking-related violent crimes stemming from dating violence have occurred in quick succession, prosecutors will further strengthen requests for provisional measures against stalking offenders. The aim is to more proactively consider tough steps such as attaching electronic monitoring devices and holding offenders in detention centers or jails.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said on the 23rd that it prepared a "provisional measures checklist" to respond to stalking-related violent crimes and distributed it to Prosecution Service offices nationwide on the 19th. When reviewing police applications for provisional measures, prosecutors plan to focus on the relationship between the offender and the victim, whether conflict is ongoing, tendencies toward violence and obsession, the victim's expressions of anxiety, and any criminal record against the same victim.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said that an analysis of 80 dating-violence and homicide cases reported by the media from 2023 to 2025 showed that, in many cases, the offender and victim had dating, cohabitation, or marital relationships, and that break-up demands or conflicts led to the crimes. It noted that, even before the crimes, there were many instances in which warning signs appeared, such as the offender's violence and obsessive tendencies and the victim's repeated expressions of anxiety.
Accordingly, when deemed necessary, prosecutors will actively seek to add Provisional Measure No. 3-2 and No. 4 under the Stalking Punishment Act. Provisional Measure No. 3-2 is the attachment of a location-tracking electronic device, and No. 4 is holding the offender in a National Police Agency detention center or a jail. Rather than stopping at simple no-contact or stay-away orders, prosecutors intend to preemptively use stronger physical controls in cases with a high risk of reoffending.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office also directed prosecutors to examine separately cases in which a stalking offender already wearing an electronic device commits another crime against a different victim. Because the current alert system is designed mainly to trigger when the offender approaches the existing victim, it may be difficult to respond immediately to stalking targeting a new victim. In such cases, prosecutors will also consider whether a second electronic device should be attached to protect the additional victim.
In addition, since the Stalking Punishment Act took effect in Oct. 2021, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office plans to review the practice of requesting and executing provisional measures at Prosecution Service offices nationwide to see if there are operational shortcomings in the system. It said it will prepare additional improvement measures based on the review results.
Recently, stalking crimes targeting women in dating relationships have become more brutal. On the 14th in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, Kim Hun, who was wearing an electronic device, fatally stabbed a woman in her 20s whom he had been stalking and was sent to detention. In July last year in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, a woman in her 50s who had suffered stalking was killed, and in the same month in Ulsan, there was also an attempted murder targeting a woman in her 20s who had asked to break up.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said the introduction of this checklist is intended to more precisely filter out warning signs at the early stages of stalking cases and to promptly seek heavier provisional measures for high-risk offenders. The emphasis, ultimately, is on preventing dating violence and stalking from escalating into violent crimes such as murder.