Stop Cho Doo-soon from Changing His Name: A Proposal to Ban Criminals Whose Personal Information Is Publishedfrom Changing Their Names

[경향신문]

Baek Gwang-seok, arrested and indicted for killing the teenage son of his former girlfriend, is being transferred from the Jeju Dongbu (Eastern) Police Station to the Prosecutors’ Office on July 27. Yonhap News

A lawmaker has proposed a bill to ban criminals whose personal information is disclosed to the public, such as Cho Doo-soon (Jo Du-sun), from changing their names.

On July 29, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lim Ho-seon proposed an amendment of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Specific Violent Crimes. According to the revised bill, if a convicted criminal whose personal information is published applies for a new name, the court can refuse the application.

In the case of certain violent crimes involving brutal means and resulting in serious damage, current law allows the government to publish the personal information of the suspect, such as his name, face, and age, for the public interest--to guarantee the people’s right to know and to prevent a repeat of the crime as well as other crimes. In the case of sex offenders, the government releases the names and actual addresses of the offenders on the sex offender information website.

But a number of people have pointed out that even if such personal information is released, if the offenders change their names, it can weaken the purpose of the policy.

Reportedly, even now, family courts check applicants’ criminal records when reviewing individual applications to change names and reject them when they find a problem.

The latest amendment stipulates, “If a person whose personal information is published is convicted of a specified violent crime and applies for a new name, the court can refuse to approve the name change.” Lawmaker Lim explained that the latest amendment aimed to provide legal grounds to effectively block criminals involved in violent crimes from changing their names.

A typical example of criminals whose personal information is published includes Kim Tae-hyeon (Gim Tae-hyeon), who was responsible for the murder of a mother and two daughters in Nowon; Cho Ju-bin, the mastermind behind the “Nth room”; and Cho Doo-soon, who raped an eight-year-old girl. Recently, the personal information of Baek Gwang-seok and Kim Si-nam (Gim Si-nam), suspects of the murder of a teenage boy in Jeju was also disclosed.

Lawmaker Lim said, “The policy to disclose the personal information of criminals was implemented to protect the people from violent crimes by disclosing the personal information of the criminals and stopping them from repeating their offenses.” He added, “We need to establish grounds for the court to reject applications by criminals to change their names so as not to weaken the aim of this policy.”