South Korea growing app that exhibits real-time location of stalkers

SEOUL — South Korean authorities are growing a cellular app for stalking victims to trace in real-time the placement of their stalkers, in the event that they’re close by.The app, introduced by South Korea’s justice ministry on Wednesday, is a part of an permitted modification to the nation’s digital monitoring legislation.Stalkers have turn into a topic of public concern in South Korea, particularly as high-profile crimes involving stalking have made headlines in recent times.Underneath the present legislation, stalking victims can obtain textual content message alerts when their stalkers are close by — although these don’t reveal stalkers’ precise places.This makes it tough for victims to find out the route of the perpetrator, the justice ministry stated in an announcement.Underneath the revised legislation, victims might be allowed to see their stalker’s location on a map with their smartphones, permitting them to evacuate to security.Authorities observe stalkers’ whereabouts utilizing wearable digital units.The justice ministry stated it was additionally engaged on integrating the monitoring system into the nationwide emergency hotline, so police could possibly be deployed to guard victims as wanted.This integration is predicted to be accomplished subsequent 12 months, native media reported.Critics have voiced concern over the pervasiveness of stalking in South Korea, which they see as a part of a wider drawback of violence in opposition to ladies — lots of whom have been secretly filmed by spy cameras and confronted hostile threats for being feminists.In 2022, public anger erupted over the homicide of a younger girl by her male ex-colleague, who had been stalking her for years. Though she had reported him to the police, he was not detained or given a restraining order as authorities considered him as “low danger”.In 2021, South Korea launched an anti-stalking legislation that carries as much as three years of jail for offenders and a most high quality of 30 million Korean gained ($20,400; £15,300).In 2023, South Korea’s parliament revised the legislation to decrease the barrier to prosecuting stalkers.The variety of stories in opposition to stalkers have surged since then, from 7,600 in 2022 to greater than 13,000 final 12 months, in line with information from the justice ministry. — BBC

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