Rumors of Serial Child Rapist Moving to Paju Spark Outrage

Rumors are spreading that 58-year-old serial child rapist Kim Geun-shik will move to a rehabilitation facility for released convicts in Wollong-myeon, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, after his release next year, causing great unrest in the local community.

Recently, posts claiming that "Kim Geun-shik is likely to enter facility A in Wollong-myeon after completing his prison sentence next year" have been spreading rapidly centered around local mother cafes and online communities such as social media.

In response, residents have voiced concerns, saying, "It makes no sense at all for someone who committed sexual crimes against children to return to society," and "I am afraid to let my children go outside alone."

In particular, parents of students at schools located in Wollong-myeon, where facility A is situated, are strongly protesting, leading to a surge of calls to Paju City and other authorities to check the facts.

As the controversy grew, Paju City stated, "While fact-checking is the priority, as a matter of principle, we oppose Kim Geun-shik entering a facility in the Paju area."

Kim was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sequentially sexually assaulting 11 minors in areas including Incheon, Goyang, and Paju between May and September 2006, and was scheduled to be released upon completion of his sentence in October 2022.

However, just a day before his scheduled release, he was re-arrested after being identified as the perpetrator of another child forced molestation case that had remained unsolved for 16 years, and additional charges including habitual assault inside the prison were merged, resulting in an additional 5-year prison sentence.

Meanwhile, the request for sexual impulse chemical treatment, commonly known as "chemical castration," for Kim was dismissed.

Kim is scheduled to be released in 2027.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.