Probation office took six days to detect damage

Oversight gaps persist despite police post nearby

Device powered off even after indictment

Cho Du-soon, who served 12 years in prison for child sexual assault, after his release. [Newsis]
Cho Du-soon, who served 12 years in prison for child sexual assault, after his release. [Newsis]

Child sex offender Cho Du-soon destroyed the antenna of an electronic monitoring device installed at his residence, but the Ministry of Justice's probation office did not discover the damage until six days later, it has emerged.

According to an indictment and court ruling obtained by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Dong-a from the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court, Cho smashed the external antenna of a home monitoring device installed in the bedroom of his residence in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, at around 11:28 a.m. on June 3 last year.

The ruling found that Cho destroyed the device under the delusion that "the antenna is shooting radio waves into my brain."

The LTE signal strength of the home monitoring device dropped sharply after the incident, but a probation officer did not confirm the damage until June 9, while conducting an inspection inside the residence.

In total, six electronic device-related violations were recorded against Cho between March and June last year — four counts of breaching curfew restrictions and two counts of damaging the home monitoring device.

In May last year, Cho also attempted to damage the device's cover, but the device continued to function normally, leaving the attempt unsuccessful.

The Suwon High Court's First Criminal Division upheld the original sentence in June, dismissing appeals filed by both the prosecution and the defense in Cho's case on charges including violation of the Act on Electronic Monitoring Devices.

The first-instance court had sentenced Cho to eight months in prison and ordered treatment and custody.

Cho served 12 years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an elementary school student and inflicting serious injuries in 2008, and was released in December 2020. He was later sentenced to three months in prison in December 2023 for violating a nighttime curfew order.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com