Police plan to require cases opened, investigated same day for all stalking reports

The police plan to require cases to be opened and investigated the same day for all stalking reports, according to the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.

The change follows a string of serious stalking-related crimes in recent months. Under the current guidelines, a stalking report made through the 112 emergency police line is subject to an assessment by responding officers as to whether the case constitutes stalking, with some cases closed at the scene or referred to counseling agencies without opening a formal investigation.

The Korean National Police Agency has prepared internal guidelines for the new change, which is expected to be distributed as an official directive to police precincts and regional offices nationwide as early as next week.

Police are reportedly considering first launching the system on a trial basis at several metropolitan and provincial police agencies before expanding it nationwide.

Criticism of the police response to stalking grew after it was revealed that the victim in the March stalking murder case in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, where a woman was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend, had reported the suspect to the police multiple times before she was killed, but proper protective measures were never put in place.

“The response by the relevant authorities was too slow and fell far short of public expectations," President Lee Jae Myung criticized at the time.

Two police officers tied to the case were referred for investigation over allegedly filing false reports, while 16 were sent to disciplinary committees.

Last year, police received 44,687 stalking-related reports, up almost 40 percent from 31,947 cases in 2024, according to statistics from the Korean National Police Agency.

Of them, 9,320 cases, or 20.8 percent, were closed at the scene without a formal investigation, while 20,590 cases, or 46 percent, were closed after being referred to relevant organizations.

Police now plan to avoid immediately closing cases at the scene and instead conduct additional questioning of those involved before making a final determination.

Frontline officers, however, have expressed concerns about treating every stalking report as a formal criminal investigation.

If the number of cases rises sharply, the time and resources devoted to individual investigations could reportedly be diluted, reducing the overall quality of police work.

“A rise in cases without an increase in investigative personnel will inevitably increase the burden on women and youth investigation units,” a police official from a women and youth division at a Seoul police station said.

“From the perspective of local police offices, it may actually be easier to formally register every case rather than rely on field judgment," said another police official in Seoul. “Because relationship-based crimes often involve victims later expressing that they do not want punishment, safeguards are also needed to prevent legal responsibility from being shifted onto individual officers."

Following the Namyangju stalking murder case, police conducted a comprehensive review of more than 22,000 relationship-based crime cases.

Authorities launched a task force focused on protecting vulnerable groups from violent crimes, such as stalking, on Friday. The launch followed the fatal stabbing of a high school student by a man she did not know in Gwangju on May 5. The suspect also had a history of stalking and had originally intended to kill a woman who had reported him to police for stalking, according to investigators.

The police also established a cooperation system with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on Monday. The new system links 261 police precincts nationwide with 189 counseling organizations to strengthen responses to relationship-based crimes such as domestic violence, stalking and dating violence.

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.

LEE AH-MI [[email protected]]