The Cho Doo-soon incident was a case in December 2008 in which Cho Doo-soon raped and assaulted an 8-year-old girl in the toilet of a church in Danwon District, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. In the early stages the case was not widely known. However, after it was featured on September 22, 2009, in a report on electronic ankle monitoring for sex offenders on the KBS 1TV programme Sisa Kihoek Ssam and in news broadcasts, it soon sparked debate over the brutality of the crime, the offender's depravity, and the penalties for sex crimes against children. In the early stages, because the victim was referred to by a pseudonym, the case was called the Nayoung case. However, netizens began to criticise this name because it focused on the victim rather than the perpetrator, and the case was subsequently called the Cho Doo-soon incident.1
He told the victim that she had to go to church, and dragged her into the church toilet. There, the defendant repeatedly forced the victim to perform oral sex. When she refused, he struck her face several times with his fists. When she cried, he said it was noisy and bit her cheek hard. The defendant strangled the victim until she lost consciousness, raped her, and then left her lying over running tap water. As a result, he inflicted on her traumatic amputation injuries to the abdomen, lower back and pelvic areas that required at least eight weeks of treatment and caused permanent harm, as well as a fractured fibula.2
Course of events
On December 11, 2008, Cho Doo-soon lured a female elementary school student, then in the second grade, who was on her way to school, into the church toilet, where she was abducted and subjected to rape and bodily injury. The victim's body was severely damaged as a result. The perpetrator, Cho Doo-soon (56 years old at the time), was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He appealed and filed a further appeal on the grounds that the sentence was harsh, but both were dismissed, and the 12-year sentence was finalised.3 Because the perpetrator was elderly and had been drinking, that is, his diminished capacity was taken into account and his sentence was reduced.
First-instance judgment
The following is part of the first-instance judgment.
(Omitted)
Facts of the crime
The defendant and the applicant for an attachment order (hereinafter "the defendant") has a prior conviction, as on August 9, 1983, the Seoul District Court Northern Branch sentenced him to three years' imprisonment for rape causing bodily injury. While intoxicated and with diminished ability to discern things or make decisions, at around 08:30 on December 11, 2008, on the street in front of the ..Church in ..-dong, ....., Ansan-si, Danwon-gu, he saw the victim who was walking to ○○School near '..'. He decided to rape the victim, approached her, and dragged her, saying she had to go to church, into the toilet inside the church.
There, the defendant made the victim take off his trousers and suck his genitals. When she refused, he struck her face several times with his fists. When she cried, he said it was noisy, bit her cheek with his mouth, and strangled her until she lost consciousness.
The defendant then removed the trousers and underwear of the victim, who was now unable to resist, pulled out her internal organs, and inserted detergent. As a result, he inflicted on the victim traumatic amputation injuries to the abdomen, lower back and pelvic areas that required at least eight weeks of treatment and caused permanent harm, as well as a fractured fibula. There is also a risk that he will commit sexual violence crimes again.
(Omitted)
Reasons for sentencing
This crime was committed when the defendant, to satisfy his unjust sexual desire, dragged the victim, who was only eight years old and on her way to school, into the toilet of a nearby building, strangled her until she lost consciousness, and then raped her. She suffered permanent harm, including traumatic amputation of the abdomen, lower back and pelvic areas requiring at least eight weeks of treatment. Without immediate surgical treatment, her life would have been in danger.
Therefore, due to this crime, the victim and her family have suffered grievous and serious pain and psychological trauma that can never be erased. In particular, the victim's genitals and anus were severely damaged and lost their function, so she will certainly suffer severe pain in her emotional and physical development in the future, and she must live as a disabled person for the rest of her life.
Although the nature and circumstances of this crime are extremely grave, the defendant, far from repenting of his wrongdoing, has made various excuses at each stage and denied the crime. He has taken no measures to restore the victim, and currently the victim's family is petitioning for the severest punishment of the defendant.
Furthermore, according to the pre-sentence investigation report on the defendant, he is an alcoholic with a lack of behavioural control, is highly likely to commit crimes, and shows a relatively high risk of reoffending.
Taking all sentencing conditions into account, including the means and methods of this crime, its results, the circumstances after the crime, the defendant's criminal record, risk of reoffending, age, behaviour, and family environment, it is necessary to protect society by preventing further crimes by the defendant, and to reform and improve the defendant's malicious character by isolating him from society for a long period. Therefore, the sentence is set as stated in the order.
Imprisonment
On January 9, 2009, the offender was indicted for rape causing bodily injury. On March 4, a life sentence was sought, but on March 27 the first-instance judgment sentenced him to 12 years' imprisonment.4 The prosecutor in charge did not appeal against this. On March 30, Cho Doo-soon, the offender, appealed, saying the sentence was "too heavy," and the appeal was dismissed on July 24.5 Three days later, on July 27, Cho filed a further appeal, but this was also dismissed on September 24 of the same year.67 He served his sentence in solitary confinement at Cheongsong Prison (now Gyeongbuk North Second Prison). In July 2018, he was transferred to Pohang Prison for sexual violence psychological treatment.8
Reactions and impact
Sex crimes carry a maximum penalty of 30 years' imprisonment (15 years at the time of the incident; Article 42 of the Criminal Act, amended on April 15, 2010), and are subject to heavier punishment when the victim is a minor. This led to debate over the penalties for sex crimes and child sex crimes, and an online petition was launched on Daum's Agora. The perpetrator's outrageous criminal behaviour and his unrepentant attitude in court provoked widespread anger, and protest messages flooded the websites of the National Assembly and the Blue House.
As public opinion worsened, on September 30, 2009, President Lee Myung-bak, at a cabinet meeting, said, "I know it is not easy to raise issues about what the law has decided," but "I have even come to think that such people should rightly be isolated for life, and my heart is heavy with grief."9 Lee Gwi-nam, the Minister of Justice, also stated that Cho Doo-soon would not be granted parole.
Also, on October 1, many people left messages on the websites of the Ministry of Gender Equality and the National Human Rights Commission demanding improvements to the system.
Controversy over financial support
The victim's family was a household receiving public livelihood assistance, and they were in financial difficulty. The victim's father was a day labourer who could only work when there was work available, and the victim's mother was a domestic helper. For the sake of their child's future, the mother had taken out an insurance policy and paid premiums of 25,000 won per month.
After the incident, the parents gave up their jobs and devoted themselves entirely to the victim's treatment. They received financial support from Ansan City to cover hospital fees and various expenses. The insurance company also paid out 40 million won in insurance benefits in consideration of the terrible accident. However, in June 2009, Ansan City sent an official letter in the name of the mayor ordering them to return all 6 million won of emergency medical support funds they had received from the city, and warning that if they failed to comply, their lease deposit would be seized. The city also notified them that they would be removed from the public livelihood assistance benefits. The reason given was that, "in principle, anyone with more than 3 million won in their bank account is excluded from support." The parents pleaded that some of the victim's bodily functions had been permanently lost and that she would need psychological treatment for several more years, but their appeal was rejected.
After this news spread, criticism from netizens flooded the Ansan City website. In response, an Ansan City official withdrew the decision to reclaim the support funds and said public livelihood benefits would be paid again, asking that misunderstandings about Ansan City be cleared up.
Media coverage
Two months after the appeal was dismissed, on September 22, 2009, KBS 1TV's Sisa Kihoek Ssam and news broadcasts focused on this case in a report on electronic ankle monitoring for sex offenders. Other media outlets then began to cite and report on it, and public opinion erupted. On September 30, some media outlets mistakenly reported that the perpetrator's occupation was a Protestant pastor, but they soon issued corrections. However, his occupation was not disclosed.10 Based on evidence such as the fact that the perpetrator had lured the victim into the church toilet by saying she "had to go to church" and fingerprints collected at the scene, police identified a suspect among church staff and local residents and arrested the perpetrator 57 hours after the investigation began.
"It is not because I am humble, but my heart is heavy. I still feel uncomfortable that we made a program by exploiting children's problems. On the internet, there are claims that the perpetrator is a pastor, and Nayoung's clothes are described in detail, but this is not true. Horrible novels have been posted. How would the child feel if she saw such content? Please, I beg you to restrain yourselves. We put the original tape of Nayoung in the company safe in case it leaked. We were going to destroy it, but decided to keep it for now. Please do not try to find the child."11
It was also revealed that the perpetrator had previously been a member of the Samcheong Education Camp and had a prior conviction for murder.12
Meanwhile, a photograph of a man presumed to be the perpetrator, posted on the Internet on October 1 by some reckless netizens, was revealed to be of someone with no connection to the case.13
Issues
Indictment and sentence
The prosecution indicted the defendant under the general Criminal Act provisions for rape causing bodily injury, rather than under the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims. Under the general Criminal Act, rape causing bodily injury carries a life sentence or imprisonment of at least five years, but the statutory penalty under Article 9 of the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims (rape and other crimes causing bodily injury), a life sentence or at least seven years' imprisonment, was heavier. Regarding the application of the general Criminal Act rather than the special law, the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee questioned the prosecution, and the prosecution acknowledged that it had made a mistake.14
When the prosecution, as the indicting party, does not appeal or file a further appeal, and only the defendant does so, the principle of non-reformatio in peius applies, and the defendant cannot receive a sentence longer than that handed down by the first-instance court. Therefore, since the district court had imposed 12 years and the prosecution did not object, under the principle of nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege, the High Court and Supreme Court could not rule beyond the limits of the law. The prosecution admitted during parliamentary audit that it had made a mistake in abandoning the appeal.14
There is a growing need to review the laws on rape and sex crimes against children. In connection with this, when criticism of the courts intensified, the court at the time explained that "the maximum legal penalty is life imprisonment, but a life sentence has never been imposed even for rape resulting in death. A 12-year sentence is almost the same as that for a murder with a bad nature."15
Diminished capacity
Although the court chose a life sentence based on the victim's age and the brutality of the crime, it reduced the sentence under Article 10, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act, which states that "the act of a person whose ability is diminished due to mental disability shall be mitigated," on the grounds that the perpetrator was elderly (56 at the time) and that a diminished mental state due to chronic alcoholism and lack of self-control was recognised.
Under Article 55, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Criminal Act at the time, it was stipulated that "when mitigating a life sentence or life imprisonment without labour, the sentence shall be imprisonment or detention of at least seven years." (Currently, it is imprisonment or detention of 10 to 50 years.) However, at that time, due to a Supreme Court precedent, when a life sentence was mitigated, the court could impose no more than 15 years' imprisonment. Under the Criminal Act at that time, while determinate sentences could be aggravated up to 25 years (now 50 years), persistent criticism and controversy that the law should be amended to allow up to 25 years' imprisonment even when a life sentence was mitigated continued, but due to the indifference of the government and courts and the neglect of the National Assembly, the law had not been amended by the time of the Cho Doo-soon incident. Because the Criminal Act at the time only permitted a maximum of 15 years when a life sentence was mitigated for diminished capacity, Cho received 12 years. This led to speculation that if a 25-year sentence had been possible, Cho would have received 18 to 20 years.
In addition, some argue that because Cho already had a prior conviction for child sexual assault and acted meticulously to destroy evidence, applying diminished capacity to reduce his sentence is inappropriate. This has also raised a fundamental question about whether it is appropriate to treat intoxication as diminished capacity and reduce sentences accordingly.
Criticism of the prosecution
It was revealed that during the investigation, the prosecution said that the recording "did not work," the audio "did not work," and the sound "was too quiet," and made the victim repeat her statement as many as five times.
The victim's attending physician also appeared on a TV discussion programme and pointed out problems with the current method. He argued that in investigations of child sexual violence crimes, as in advanced countries, the victim's statement should be taken by doctors or experts who take the victim's age and psychological state into account, and that the statement should be given evidentiary value in court.
The Korean Bar Association identified these as problems in the investigative process and planned to file a damages lawsuit against the state.16
On December 15, 2009, the Korean Bar Association filed a damages lawsuit for more than 30 million won, claiming that the prosecution had refused a request for copies of the case records and had made them write a document stating that they would withdraw the request. The reasons cited by the investigation committee were as follows.17
- The nursing record at the hospital emergency room stated that a vaginal fluid sample had been collected from the victim on arrival, and her parents also requested evidence collection, but this was not submitted as evidence during the trial, and the whereabouts of that evidence remain unknown to this day.
- During the hospital investigation, no screen was installed, which exposed the victim's face.
- Under the Sexual Violence Act, sexual violence cases are to be investigated by a dedicated prosecutor, but a non-dedicated prosecutor conducted the investigation, and due to inexperience in operating the video recording equipment, the victim's statement was recorded four times.
- During the trial, the prosecutor overlooked a CD containing the video recording made right after the police arrested Cho Doo-soon, and only submitted it as evidence the day before the appellate ruling, too late.
- The prosecution has been criticised for indicting the perpetrator under the general Criminal Act rather than the special sexual violence law, and for abandoning the appeal against the 12-year sentence.
In response, on December 14, 2009, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Committee recommended to Prosecutor General Kim Jun-gyu that disciplinary action be taken against the prosecutor in charge.
Human rights
A debate has also arisen over the human rights of sex offenders. One netizen created a cafe to protect the human rights of offenders, including Yoo Young-chul and Kim Gil-tae, and about a thousand netizens, apparently with records of sex crimes or as relatives, joined as members in agreement. Tens of thousands of netizens who visited the cafe demanded that it be shut down and criticised their claims.18 The cafe has since been closed.
Concerns
Experts are concerned that the incident has drawn attention to the case itself rather than constructive discussion of flawed sexual attitudes, weak legal systems, and measures to prevent recurrence, moving in a direction that inevitably causes the victim more suffering. Lee Yoon-sang, director of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, said the following.
"What we really need to do, so that the victim can heal and overcome this condition, and so that this kind of problem does not happen again, is to focus on what our society needs to do. That is how we can focus more on healing and prevention."19
In addition, the attending physician treating Nayoung expressed regret on a TV discussion, saying, "Whenever a case becomes an issue, the government and political circles repeatedly come up with various measures, but these are no more than empty words with no progress from past announcements, and in reality there are no practical support measures for child victims who need long-term assistance."20
Urban legends
Details of the perpetrator's crime that are not stated in the judgment have been posted on the internet, but their sources are unclear. The reporter in charge of the Sisa Kihoek Ssam segment made a statement that appeared to refer to this.11
Meanwhile, the production team of KBS's Sisa Kihoek Ssam, which first reported on the case, posted a message on its website saying, "I am sorry that we could not propose any way to protect the child despite the viewers' interest," and "Nayoung's father no longer wants her to be exposed in the media."21
Candlelight vigil
On the evening of October 10, 2009, a candlelight vigil related to the Cho Doo-soon incident was held in Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall. Participants held placards and candles calling for stronger legal penalties for sex offenders, and gave various arguments in an open-speech format.22
Fundraising
Donations to help Nayoung have been collected through internet portal sites. Once the fundraising is complete, the money will be donated to the Welfare Division of Ansan City Hall.
On the donation portal "Happy Bean" of the portal site Naver, donations to help Nayoung have been collected in cooperation with the "Warm Sunshine Gender Equality Counselling Centre." The second round of fundraising ran from November 16, 2009, to December 31, 2009, following the first round.23
On Daum's Agora, a fundraising petition titled "Nayoung case, please help Nayoung!" ran from October 9, 2009, to October 13, 2009. Initially, Daum said, "Many netizens signed, but in accordance with the wishes of Nayoung's mother, who did not want any fundraising out of concern that Nayoung, who will one day return to school, might be teased or hurt, we have decided not to proceed." However, after further consultation with the family, it was carried out so that it could give at least some support to the child.24
Even after the fundraising ended, citizens can make regular or one-time donations to Nayoung through Ansan City Hall or the Gyeonggi Provincial Community Chest, designating the recipient.2526
Follow-up measures
As a result of this incident, in 2010 the National Assembly doubled the upper limit for determinate prison sentences from the previous 15 years (25 years when aggravated) to 30 years (50 years when aggravated), and abolished the statute of limitations for rape of children and adolescents. In addition, measures were established and implemented, including extending the maximum period of electronic ankle monitoring to 30 years.27
Cho Doo-soon, the offender in this case, was released on December 12, 2020. Ansan City has been conducting 24-hour patrols with martial arts officers holding third-dan or higher qualifications following his release.28 From May 20, 2021, it was reported that the Ministry of Justice and Ansan had spent more than 200 million won over four months to monitor and manage Cho.29
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