A man in South Korea was sentenced to 40 years in prison for stabbing a female colleague to death in a subway bathroom after she reported him for stalking and harassment, in a case that sparked nationwide calls for legal reform.
Jeon Joo-hwan, 31, was found guilty on Tuesday for murdering his 28-year-old coworker, who has not been named. He called more than 300 times over the course of two years, begging her to go on dates and threatening to harm her if she didn’t comply.
Though she filed complaints with the police, authorities never detained Jeon because they deemed him “low risk.” He was eventually found guilty of stalking, but he carried out the murder on the night of Sept. 14, the day before a court was set to rule on the stalking case. Carrying a knife, Jeon waited for the victim for over an hour in front of the women’s restroom, before going inside and stabbing her to death.
The Seoul District Central Court called the murder a “revenge killing,” as Jeon lost his job as a subway station worker in 2021 after the woman complained about his stalking.
The murder prompted an outpouring of grief and anger across the country, with many faulting the authorities for not detaining him during the police investigation or issuing an arrest warrant.
Critics also point to what they say is a loophole that prevents stalking perpetrators from being brought to justice, as the law requires victims’ consent to charge their stalkers. Reform advocates argue the clause allows perpetrators to intimidate their targets into dropping their cases.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amending the law to remove the loophole, but parliament has yet to pass the bill. The stalking law was first proposed in 1999 and finally passed in October 2021. Previously, stalking-related crimes were only treated as misdemeanors, punishable by a fine of up to 100,000 won ($80).
Convicted stalkers can now be sentenced to a maximum three years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won ($24,000), and more if they possessed a weapon.
Jeon will begin his 40-year sentence for the murder after serving nine years in jail for stalking, harassing, and nonconsensually filming his victim.
The Seoul court ruled against prosecutors’ demands for a death penalty for Jeon, saying the man, at 31, is still young and could atone for his crimes.
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