Prevent Appointment of Stalking Offender as Public Official

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 29th, Kim Seon-gyo, a member of the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee from the People Power Party, announced that he has each introduced two partial amendment bills, including the 'National Public Officials Act' and the 'Local Public Officials Act,' to add disqualification grounds preventing individuals convicted of stalking crimes from being appointed as public officials.

Under current law, individuals who have been dismissed or discharged for sexual crimes against minors or sexual crimes against children and adolescents, or who have been sentenced to imprisonment or treatment custody with the sentence finalized, are prohibited from being appointed as public officials. However, a history of stalking crimes was not included as a disqualification for national and local public officials.

The amendment proposed by Representative Kim adds cases where a person has been dismissed or discharged due to stalking crimes or sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more with the sentence finalized to the disqualification grounds for public official appointments, raising awareness about stalking crimes. Representative Kim stated, "Since public officials have multifaceted access to acquiring and viewing information related to their duties and hold influential positions, it is necessary to exclude individuals with a high recidivism rate of stalking crimes from appointment to protect public safety."