The government is pushing to toughen laws governing the status of public officials and soldiers to remove them from their posts when they are fined or receive heavy criminal punishments for sex crimes, the gender equality ministry said Friday.
The plan, approved during a meeting of social affairs-related Cabinet ministers, is aimed at eradicating sexual violence involving those in a superior status than the victims, the ministry said.
Present laws require public officials and soldiers to be fired when they receive jail sentences. As far as sex crimes are concerned, the government will toughen the laws so civil servants and soldiers can lose their jobs when they are punished with fines for the crimes, the ministry said.
The government also seeks to revise laws to fire all school teachers and restrict them from holding a similar position for life if they are dismissed from their posts or receive criminal punishment or medical treatment while in custody for sex crimes.
One of the government-proposed bills is scheduled to be up for approval during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, officials said.
The measure came amid a recent surge in the number of sex crimes allegedly committed by university professors against students and senior military officers against subordinates.
According to police figures, sex offenses involving those in superior positions have risen more than twofold from 140 in 2010 to 283 last year.
In the latest in a series of sexual offenses involving senior military officers, the Navy said on Wednesday that a vice admiral is being probed over allegations that he demanded a female caddie to sing and dance for him at a golf range.
In late January, an Army colonel was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female subordinate several times. Three months earlier, a major general in charge of an Army division in the Seoul metropolitan area was arrested on charges of sexually harassing a female subordinate at his office five times.
“Crimes of sexual violence involving those in superior positions is not only a grave crime but also a behavior posing a threat to the foundation of a workplace,” Kim Hee-jung, minister of gender equality and family, told reporters after the meeting.
“Public offices will take a lead in uprooting crimes of sexual violence by firmly dealing with such crimes under the ‘no lenience’ principle.” (Yonhap)
