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SEOUL: Angry protesters threw eggs and yelled insults as one of South Korea’s most notorious child predators was released from a prison in southern Seoul on Saturday (December 12) at the end of a 12-year period.
Law enforcement authorities tied 69-year-old Cho Doo-soon with an electronic anklet and escorted him to his home in nearby Ansan, where authorities added and improved security cameras and promised to monitor 24 hours. For a man the residents still see as a risk to your community.
Cho was convicted of kidnapping and raping an eight-year-old girl in a church bathroom in Ansan in 2008 in a brutal attack that left her with serious and lasting injuries. The case shocked and horrified the nation and sparked a great deal of public sympathy for the girl, which inspired a 2018 movie called Hope.
Around a million people since 2017 have signed multiple online petitions to the president opposing the release of Cho, who had been feared by Ansan residents for years.
Dozens of protesters, holding signs reading “Cho Doo, soon to hell” and shouting slogans calling for her castration or execution, marched for hours outside the prison early Saturday amid a heavy police presence.
The officers dispersed some protesters who temporarily blocked a road to the prison by lying down and blocking their arms, which appeared to delay Cho’s release by around half an hour.
Protesters lie on the road to oppose Cho Doo-soon’s release in front of a prison in Seoul, South Korea, on December 12, 2020 (Photo: Yun Dong-jin / Yonhap via AP).
Protesters threw eggs and other objects as a van, which was transporting Cho and was flanked by officers, exited the prison gate around 6.45am.
Cho, gray-haired, wearing a white cap and mask, later arrived at a probation office in Ansan amid a barrage of camera flashes where officials searched his tracking device. He did not respond to reporters’ questions about whether he was sorry, but bowed twice before being escorted home.
The Ministry of Justice rejected an earlier request by the mayor of Ansan for Cho to be kept in isolation in a “protection” facility once his sentence ended. The ministry said it decided to transport Cho in a government vehicle because allowing him to use his own car or public transportation could risk “physical confrontations” with other citizens.
Online message boards and social media have been flowing with comments threatening to punish him.
“Almost everyone I know was busy searching the Internet to find out the location of their house and so was I,” said Lee Do-hyung, a coffee shop employee. “There are conversations that say that the prison did not change him and that he was still a violent man. You don’t want that man walking the streets and couples with parents are particularly concerned. “
JA Nah, an office worker in Ansan, said: “I will tremble with fear to meet him anytime, anywhere.
“I hope that now he lives as a normal citizen who does not harm others, but I am still afraid of him,” he said.
To ease public anxiety, authorities have recently stepped up patrols and security positions in Cho’s neighborhood.
The Ansan city government said in a statement that a team of 12 security guards, formerly special forces soldiers or martial arts specialists, have been assigned on shifts to patrol the area around Cho’s home around the clock. of the day. Officials are also adding 20 more security cameras, as well as new streetlights.
Mo Youngshin, a police officer in Ansan, said 30 other officers have been separately mobilized to patrol the neighborhood. He said that the police and the Justice Ministry had recently organized a joint training to quickly mobilize their staff to respond if Cho commits a crime.
The victim’s family told local media last month that they plan to move from Ansan due to Cho’s return.
The father told JTBC television that his daughter “broke down in tears” over Cho’s planned return to Ansan. “It was the first time it happened since she was attacked 12 years ago. We all cried with her, ”said the man, whose name and face were not disclosed.
Despite widespread concerns, some residents cautiously questioned whether the current level of patrols, public hatred and media frenzy are too much for Cho to have completed his sentence.
The Ansan city government has also recently requested media agencies not to film or interview residents without permission, citing privacy concerns and possible negative effects on housing prices and early childhood education.
