Exclusive: With Over 10 Criminal Records Including Attempted Murder, Yet Deemed Not "High Risk"

[Anchor]

Choi Choong-rak, who was wearing an electronic ankle monitor, had a criminal record of over 10 offenses, including two counts of attempted murder. Recently, he was even booked for carrying a weapon in a public place. However, it has been confirmed that the electronic supervision management grade assigned to Choi by the Ministry of Justice was not in the high-risk group.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon has this exclusive report.

[Reporter]

Choi Choong-rak, the suspect in the Incheon random weapon attack case, wielded a weapon against a real estate agent in 2004, and against his ex-wife whom he was living with after a divorce in 2007. In 2015, he stabbed his ex-wife with a weapon after she refused to reconcile, serving four years in prison for attempted murder. He had a criminal record of more than 10 offenses.

Due to the risk of reoffending, he became a probation subject under the Ministry of Justice wearing an electronic ankle monitor after his release in 2019. According to SBS reporting, he was placed in the "intensive" grade, which is the lower tier among the four-step electronic supervision management grades of the Ministry of Justice.

Choi recently staged a one-person protest for two months harboring grievances against a hospital where he received athlete's foot treatment, and was booked on the 4th for carrying a weapon in a public place.

The Ministry of Justice did not upgrade his management grade even after being notified of the booking by the police two days later.

However, it was reported that just before the weapon attack on the 13th, a probation officer had lunch with Choi and only gave a verbal instruction that he "must not carry a weapon," without checking whether he was actually carrying one.

In response to SBS's inquiry asking if this was passive handling, an official from the Ministry of Justice explained, "The recent weapon possession incident did not involve swinging a weapon at a person," adding, "That level does not qualify for the high-risk grade among electronic supervision subjects."

The official also added, "We do not think that judgment was wrong."

Management grades are determined by considering criminal records and other factors based on a recidivism risk assessment tool, and controversy is expected as Choi was deemed not to fall into the high-risk group.

[Interview: Kim Dong-a / Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Democratic Party of Korea] : The Ministry of Justice must completely overhaul its electronic supervision system. In addition, it should increase the insufficient electronic supervision personnel and specially manage subjects with a high risk of reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice also explained, "We were preparing additional procedures to check for weapon possession in the future."

(Video Editing: Kim Yoon-sung, Design: Kim Han-gil, Jegal Chan, Video Provided by: Newsis)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.