A pilot facility for juvenile offenders in Danwon District, Ansan, Gyeonggi, is shown during a briefing by the Ministry of Justice on June 9.NEWS1
Korea may lower the age of criminal culpability for juvenile offenders only in cases involving serious crimes, according to a government recommendation reached after months of public consultation.
The proposal marks a shift from an earlier inclination to maintain the current age limit of under 14, reflecting continued public concern over violent crimes committed by young offenders who are not old enough to be held criminally responsible in the justice system.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Ministry of Justice have agreed to lower the age threshold from under 14 to under 13 only for juveniles who commit "serious crimes," according to a report by Yonhap News Agency on Sunday, citing multiple government officials.
Under the current Juvenile Act, children aged 10 to 14 who commit crimes are classified as juvenile offenders, exempt from criminal punishment and instead subject to corrective measures. These juveniles are called chokbeop sonyeon in Korean, or children old enough to break the law but, in the eyes of the Korean criminal justice system, too young to be punished for it.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is expected to submit the revised recommendation to the Cabinet as early as Tuesday. Government officials told Yonhap that the proposal could still be revised depending on the outcome of Cabinet discussions.
Calls to lower the age of criminal responsibility for juvenile offenders have persisted for years.
"It appears that an overwhelming majority of the public believes the age threshold should be lowered by at least one year," President Lee Jae Myung said during a Cabinet meeting in February.
He instructed the government to gather public opinion and reach a conclusion on lowering the age threshold by one year, from 14 to 13.
Debate over lowering the age of criminal responsibility gained momentum after the widely publicized 2017 Busan middle school assault case, in which a group of teenage students brutally attacked another student.
Previous administrations also considered lowering the age whenever serious juvenile crimes occurred, but the proposals failed amid opposition arguing that education and rehabilitation should take priority over punishment.
Won Min-kyong, minister of Gender Equality and Family, speaks during a forum of the public participation panel on the age of criminal responsibility for juvenile offenders at the Osong Convention Center in North Chungcheong on April 18.MINISTRY OF GENDER EQUALITY AND FAMILY
After holding public consultations in March and April, a committee established to examine the issue recommended maintaining the current age range of 10 to under 14. The government is understood to have opted for the compromise proposal to lower the maximum age limit for certain cases in light of strong public support for reducing the threshold and disagreements among government ministries over whether to do so.
Among 1,002 adults aged 18 and older nationwide, 81 percent of respondents supported lowering the age threshold, according to a Gallup Korea survey conducted in March. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
The Ministry of Justice is expected to establish detailed criteria defining what constitutes a serious crime.
The ministry plans to refer to amendments to the Criminal Act related to juvenile offenders that were introduced during the 21st National Assembly. Those bills classified murder, robbery, sexual crimes including rape and sexual assault and group assault as serious crimes.
They also proposed removing immunity from criminal prosecution for juveniles who have been sent to juvenile detention centers three or more times.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
