[News Terms] Proposing 'Mugshots' Disclosure in Korea Like in the US

'Mug shot' is a slang term for the facial photograph taken during the detention process to identify a suspect. The precise term is 'police photograph.'

To verify the identity of a criminal with witnesses or victims, photos are taken from the front and side while the suspect holds a nameplate or inmate number during detention at a police station holding cell, detention center, or prison.

In the past, photos were taken in front of a background marked with height measurements, but now, due to concerns that detainees might feel ashamed, photos are simply taken against a white wall. The photographs are then uploaded to the detention record book.

Mugshot of Bill Gates arrested for a traffic violation in New Mexico, USA, in 1977.
[Photo by San Francisco Globe]

'Mug' also means '(a large cup with a handle),' but it is used as a slang term for 'face.' Translated into Korean, it can be understood as 'sangpandae-gi' or 'natjjak' (both meaning face). The use of 'mug' as slang for face is said to have originated because many mugs were decorated with a relief of a face. It is known that Allan Pinkerton, the first private detective in 19th-century America, introduced the mug shot concept inspired by wanted posters.

In the United States, mug shots are classified as public information under the Freedom of Information Act, and regardless of the type of crime or the suspect's nationality, mug shots are taken and disclosed when someone is arrested by the police. This is why Bill Gates's mug shot from his 1977 arrest in New Mexico for a traffic violation is still easily found on the internet.

South Korea also has mug shots. Photos are taken when a suspect is arrested, but unlike in the U.S., it is illegal for the media or others to disclose mug shots. However, after the high school graduation photo of Jeong Yoo-jeong (23), who murdered a woman in her twenties and mutilated and abandoned the body, was released, public opinion has been growing in South Korea that mug shots showing the current appearance of suspects in serious crimes should be disclosed.