Bill Proposed to Abolish 'Family Privilege' After Father Destroys Evidence for Son

[Anchor]

Under current law, Jang Yoon-gi's father cannot be punished for destroying evidence. This is due to a special provision that exempts family members from punishment if they destroy evidence for a relative. Following growing controversy, a bill has been proposed in the National Assembly to abolish this provision entirely.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The prosecution, having confirmed that Police Inspector Jang, the father of Gwangju high school student murder suspect Jang Yoon-gi, destroyed key evidence, indicted Jang Yoon-gi last month on charges including rape and murder, rather than simple murder.

However, Inspector Jang, who destroyed the evidence, could not be indicted.

This is because of a special provision in the current Criminal Act that exempts family members or relatives from punishment if they destroy evidence.

Representative Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party, proposed an amendment to the Criminal Act today (July 2) to delete this special provision for relatives.

The proposal aims to eliminate not only the special provision for relatives regarding the destruction of evidence under Article 155 of the Criminal Act but also the provision regarding the harboring of criminals under Article 151.

Representative Han emphasized, "In Japan, punishment for the destruction of evidence among relatives is not uniformly exempted; instead, the severity of the case is judged on an individual basis," adding, "Through this legal amendment, we will ensure thorough investigations and appropriate punishment."

Minister of Justice Jeong Seong-ho also posted on social media today that, given that the 'family theft exemption' rule, which exempted punishment for property crimes among family members, was abolished last year to reflect changing times, it is necessary to review improvements to this special provision as well.

However, some in the legal community have expressed concerns that if the special provision is abolished, there is a high possibility that many family members of criminals could end up with criminal records.

(Video reporting: Kim Nam-seong, Video editing: Park Chun-bae, Graphics: Kang Yun-jeong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.