In a move to help prevent repetitive crimes and curb sexual violence, South Korea will fit electronic tracking devices around the ankles of sex offenders starting this week, officials said. Fifty-three sex offenders, who are set to be released on probation on Monday, will become the first group to wear the anklets under a law that went into effect early this month, the Justice Ministry said in a release. The tracking system alerts monitoring officials when offenders enter banned zones or violate their curfew, it said. Established after an 11-year-old girl in Seoul's Yongsan area was raped, murdered and burned by a neighbour in 2006, the law ensures real-time monitoring of those convicted twice for sex crimes, or who have assaulted children under the age of 13. Besides the anklets, offenders must take educational courses aimed at reducing recidivism and successfully readjusting them to society, officials said. About 200 to 300 sex offenders on parole or probation will wear the device by the end of this year, they said. The tracking system alerts monitoring officials if offenders remove it or violate the rules issued by the court, such as entering school zones or the house of a prior victim or going out at night. The maximum monitoring period is 10 years. The tracking system for sex offenders was first introduced in the US state of Florida in 1997 and is now in effect in about 10 countries. Fears over children's safety resurfaced earlier this year after the bodies of two elementary school girls, who were also killed by a neighbour, were found dismembered in the remote countryside.
