SEOUL: South Korea will open three new shelters for stalking victims as authorities try to reassure the public of their safety following a recent murder of a woman.
Authorities in Seoul said two of the shelters will be for women while the other will be for men.
According to a Korea Times report, the shelters will provide protection and psychological therapy to the victims, while allowing them to maintain their daily lives.
Currently, facilities designed to protect stalking victims limit them from resuming their daily routines in order to minimise the risks of exposing their whereabouts to stalkers.
The move comes after South Korea was shocked with the murder of a female metro employee at Seoul's Sindang Station by a stalker.
The victim, who was in her 20's, was stalked and stabbed by her former colleague in the station's bathroom,
The murder has ignited much debate in the country on safety for stalking victims, especially women, as existing protective measures by police are seen to be ineffective in many cases.
Following the murder, police said one out of three arrest warrants requested by them over stalking crimes in the country were rejected by the court.
Police statistics showed that 377 arrest warrants were filed for stalking between last October and August, but 123 requests, or 32.6 per cent, were turned down by the court.
Comparatively, police requested 6,695 arrest warrants for sexual crimes from 2019 to last month, but only 1,184, or 7.7 per cent, were rejected.
City authorities have also said that starting next year, they will launch a one-stop service for the victims by providing psychological therapy, legal support, medical treatment and protection. Currently, victims have to apply for each service separately.
Another measure that will be taken by authorities is to provide three home security appliances ― a smart doorbell, home security camera and door opening sensor ― to 500 stalking victims currently under police monitoring.
To raise public awareness of stalking crimes, the city government plans to publish a guidebook advising what actions should be taken to avoid stalkers, expand education programmes and introduce online chatrooms for consultation and information sharing for stalking victims.
According to the Times report, city authorities believe the online measures will be most effective as most stalking victims are in their 20s and early 30s, and familiar with online communication methods.
"From the future support centre to shelters, our latest anti-stalking drives will be all about forming a joint cooperation network and strengthening a dragnet involving the city government and the police force," said Kim Seon-soon, chief of the city's Gender Equality Policy Division.
It has also been reported that the murder of the Seoul Metro employee has led to an increase in sales of self-defense tools and weapons in the country.
Female office workers said they have been buying alarm devices, pepper sprays and portable stun guns to carry with them as they commute to work daily.
Several self-defence tools, including pepper spray, emergency alarms, batons, self-defence knuckles and portable stun guns are available online.
An official of a website selling self-defense items, told the Korea Times that the company has seen sales nearly double since the subway station murder incident.
On the website, many clients commented that they felt unsafe to walk around the neighbourhood at night or were afraid that someone would follow them into elevators or public toilets and harm them.
The official said that the gender ratio of its clients has now come close to 50:50 as many men have also chosen to buy self-defence items as a gift for their female family members or partners.
Meanwhile in another case, a 36-year-old man has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for stalking and brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend last year.
According to a Yonhap News report, Kim Byung-chan was convicted of stabbing his ex-girlfriend in her 30s, multiple times at her studio apartment in central Seoul in November last year.
She was under police protection after filing four complaints against Kim and a restraining order was also in place.
The case has drawn much public fury after it was revealed that the victim called for police help twice via a police-issued smartwatch on the day of her death. However, police arrived at the scene late due to the device malfunctioning.
The court ruled that it appeared Kim killed the victim for revenge out of anger after she filed for a restraining order, among other issues.