Yoon vows to stamp out stalking crime after Sindang Station murder

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to reporters on his way to the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Friday. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that he has ordered the Ministry of Justice to work on the anti-stalking law in order to prevent a repeat of the murder of a subway station worker by a colleague who had stalked her for years.

Saying that such crimes has no place in society, Yoon said he directed the Justice Ministry to take countermeasures.

"The report of the stalking murder of a station employee at Sindang Station yesterday has gravely shocked the public," he said.

"We have enacted and implemented the anti-stalking law last year, but many pointed out that it was insufficient to protect victims," he said. He promised to work to improve the system and to make every effort to protect any victims.

On Wednesday evening, a female station employee in her 20s was murdered by a former colleague in the bathroom of Sindang Station on Seoul Subway Line 2. The perpetrator had been stalking the victim for three years and was sued twice by the victim, but no restraining order had been issued.

By Lee Jung-Youn(jy@heraldcorp.com)