S. Korean sex offenders to wear electronic tracking device

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will fit electronic tracking devices around the ankles of sex offenders starting this week to help prevent repetitive crimes and curb sexual violence, officials said Sunday.

Fifty-three sex offenders set to be released Tuesday on probation will become the
first group to wear the anklets under a law that went into effect early this
month, the Justice Ministry said in a news release.
The tracking system alerts monitoring officials when offenders wearing the
anklets enter banned zones or violate their curfew, it said.
Established after a 11-year-old girl living in Seoul's Yongsan area was raped,
murdered and burned by a neighbor in 2006, the law ensures real-time monitoring
of those convicted twice for sex crimes, or who have assaulted children under the
age of 13.
Besides the anklets, offenders must take educational courses aimed at reducing
recidivism and successfully readjusting them to society, officials said.
About 200 to 300 sex offenders on parole or probation will wear the device by the
end of this year, officials said.
Fears over children's safety resurfaced earlier this year after the bodies of two
elementary school girls, who were also killed by a neighbor, were found
dismembered in the remote countryside.
The tracking system alerts monitoring officials if offenders remove it or violate
rules issued by the court, such as entering school zones or the house of a prior
victim or going out at night. The maximum monitoring period is 10 years.
The tracking system for sex offenders was first introduced in the U.S. state of
Florida in 1997 and is now in effect in about 10 countries, officials said.
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