Over the past 10 years, 151 inmates serving life sentences have been released on parole, with nearly all of them confirmed to be violent criminals.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Representative Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, 151 life-term inmates were granted parole from 2017 to September of this year.

Among them, 144 inmates committed violent crimes such as murder, robbery-murder, and rape-murder, accounting for 95% of the total.

As of September this year, 13 inmates were paroled, all of whom were convicted of murder.

Under Article 72 of the Criminal Act, even if the court hands down a life sentence determined to require permanent isolation from society, parole is possible under certain conditions after serving 20 years or more.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice stated that it does not even separately track the status of re-offending among life-term inmates released on parole.

On October 13, in Incheon, an ex-convict who had previously served a four-year prison term for attempted murder went on a weapon rampage while wearing an electronic tracking anklet, injuring 10 people.

As it was revealed that the suspect had previously been punished for violating electronic anklet curfew restrictions and booked on charges of carrying a weapon even before the rampage, calls are growing for stricter management of violent criminals.

Representative Seo Young-kyo stated, "Violent crimes must be met with correspondingly severe punishment," adding, "There is a need to permanently isolate criminals whose crimes are heinous and who show little possibility of rehabilitation from society."

Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Kim Ki-hyun | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News