The presidential office said on the 15th that it will hold a joint inter-ministerial meeting on crimes driven by unidentified motives, crimes between acquaintances and crimes targeting vulnerable groups. The meeting follows President Lee Jae-myung's instruction to draw up a government-wide response to violent crime. It will be chaired by Ha Joon-kyung, senior presidential secretary for policy (policy chief), with officials from the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education and the Korean National Police Agency attending.
Participants will receive reports on a range of tasks, the presidential office said, including measures to secure field response capabilities with victim protection as the top priority, improvements to the electronic monitoring and supervision system, support for crime victims, a stronger emergency response system for mental health crises, and expanded violence prevention education in schools.
"Going a step beyond measures aimed at victims, which can constrain their daily lives, we need to give priority to sanctions against offenders and to management and prevention activities," Ha said. "We intend to respond firmly to crimes that undermine the peaceful daily lives and safety of the public, and build a society where people feel safer." He added: "Through this meeting, we plan to discuss both effective short-term measures to prevent violent crimes against vulnerable groups and long-term measures to curb such incidents as much as possible, and report them to the president."
Lee visited the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency in person on the 13th, the day a knife attack occurred in Incheon, to receive a briefing on the case and ordered extraordinary measures against violent crime. At a meeting with senior secretaries at the presidential office the same day, he also said officials should "swiftly establish extraordinary measures with the resolve of declaring war on violent crime."