On the afternoon of the 4th, police special forces are reinforcing patrol around Ori Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, which has been announced as a place for another murder with a deadly weapon. /news1
Violent crimes are taking place one after another, following the shooting rampage at Sillim Station in Seoul and Seohyeon Station in Bundang, a teacher was attacked at a high school in Daejeon on the 4th, and a man carrying a weapon was arrested at Gangnam Express Bus Terminal in Seoul. In order to cope with this situation, there is a growing voice calling for an ‘offensive response by the public power’.
Police rules say that even firearms can be used for violent crimes, but in reality, they are responding defensively and passively. A police officer dispatched to the scene of the stabbing at Sillim Station also used an honorific saying, “Please throw away the knife.” Oh Yoon-seong, a professor at Soonchunhyang University, said, “It is allowed to use a pistol or Taser gun, but when something goes wrong, there is a strong tendency to hold the individual police officer accountable.” In 2017, a police officer who injured a drunk while trying to stop a riot was charged with self-directed assault. The police officer also paid a settlement of 53 million won to the drunk.
In addition, even if citizens who are the target of a violent crime use physical force to subdue the criminal, it is not recognized as self-defence. When a man stabbed by a weapon wielded by a friend who was drinking with him hit his friend’s hand, dropped the weapon, kicked his knee and side with his foot, and was charged with bodily harm, he claimed self-defense, but the court in 2021 did not accept it. It was intended that the assault was excessive even after the other person missed the weapon.
On the afternoon of the 4th, Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, is announcing a public discourse on the crime of riot with a weapon at the Seodaemun-gu Police Agency in Seoul./News 1
Experts point out, “It is time to change the legal standards so that the police and citizens can actively respond to violent crimes.” Kim Seong-ryong, a professor at Kyungpook National University (former president of the Korean Criminal Law Association), said, “In a situation where a criminal is mercilessly attacking an unspecified number of people with a weapon, if no response other than taking the knife is allowed, it will be impossible to subdue it.” “A wide range of responses must be allowed. ”he said.
On this day, President Yoon Seok-yeol said, “The weapon riot at Seohyeon Station is a terrorism against innocent citizens,” and ordered “to mobilize all the police force to take an ultra-strong response.” Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun said, “We will not hesitate to use legitimate police force, such as firearms and Taser guns.” The police plan to carry out a ‘selective inspection and search’ for suspected possession of a weapon and those acting strangely. In addition, the Ministry of Justice said that it would introduce ‘life imprisonment without parole’, and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said, “We will make it the maximum punishment in court.”
Graphics = Cheolwon Lee
Korean courts are criticized for overly narrowing the scope of self-defense. According to a thesis (2014) by the Korea Criminal Policy Institute, there have been only 14 cases in which self-defense has been recognized since the enactment of the Penal Code in 1953. Seung Jae-hyeon, a researcher at the Korea Criminal and Legal Policy Institute, said, “It’s like knocking down a thief who broke into a house with his fist once, and then beating him one more time to make him guilty.”
The case of Choi Mal-ja (77), who was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 2 years of probation 59 years ago for biting the tongue of a sexual assault offender, is a representative example of the court’s attitude toward self-defence. Also in 2005, in a case where her husband fell to the floor and became brain dead after his wife shook off her husband’s arm pulling her hair, the first trial admitted self-defense, but the second trial ‘exceeded passive defense’. ‘ and sentenced to probation for 1 year and 6 months in prison.
As these incidents became known, posts such as “I am in a dying situation, what should I do then?”, “It is comfortable to think that there is no self-defense in Korea”, and “How to respond if another weapon is taken out and attacked then” were posted one after another. It is pointed out that the court is making judgments that are far from reality in a situation where heinous crimes are frequent.
On the 4th, on the TV screen of the waiting room at Seoul Station, Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun announces a discourse to the public, saying, “A heinous crime against innocent citizens is, in effect, terrorism.” /yunhap news
Criticism also came from within the court. In 2020, Daejeon District Court Deputy Judge Gu Chang-mo admitted self-defense in a case in which he pushed his opponent’s hand and injured him while he was caught by his hair during an argument. At the time, presiding judge Gu said, “If there is an illegal or unreasonable attack, it needs to be widely permitted to defend against it.” The cross section of is exposed.”
On the other hand, the court also asks for civil and criminal responsibility for the police’s subduing or cracking down on criminals. In January of last year, the police subdued and handcuffed a man carrying a knife and rioting with a taser gun, and in the case where the man lost consciousness and died, as the court decided that the state compensate the bereaved family of 320 million won, the inside of the police It was also boiling.
A police officer was also fined for the death of a driver while cracking down on a motorcycle violating traffic lights. In December 2020, when a police officer was on duty in a patrol car, he chased and approached a motorcycle that violated a traffic light and ran away. In response, the court admitted that he was guilty of negligent manslaughter on the job and sentenced him to a fine of 20 million won, saying, “As a police officer who protects the lives and bodies of the people, I had to guide him to a safe place when cracking down on vehicles violating traffic laws.”
In addition, in 2019, when a driver who violated traffic laws caught a police officer, the court ordered the driver to compensate 440 million won in a case in which the police tripped and injured the driver.
Kim Myeon-gi, a law professor at the National Police University, said, “In order to proactively and actively respond to violent crimes, we need a social consensus on how much public power should be used under what circumstances.”
On August 4, 2023, National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-geun declared special security activities in response to heinous crimes in a public discourse.
2023-08-06 15:07:58
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