[Anchor]

Choi Choong-rak, who had a criminal record of over 10 offenses including two counts of attempted murder, was wearing an electronic anklet due to his high risk of reoffending. Despite recently being investigated by the police for carrying a weapon in a public space, he was not classified as a high-risk group under the Ministry of Justice's management grading system.

This report is by reporter Lee Se-hyeon.

[Reporter]

Choi Choong-rak, the suspect in the Incheon stabbing rampage, wielded a weapon against a real estate agent in 2004 and against his former common-law wife whom he was living with after divorce in 2007. In 2015, he stabbed another former wife who refused to reconcile, serving a four-year prison term for attempted murder. He had a criminal record of more than 10 convictions.

Due to the risk of reoffending, he became subject to probation by the Ministry of Justice and was fitted with an electronic anklet following his release from prison in 2019. According to SBS's reporting, he was placed in the "intensive" grade, which is the lower tier among the Ministry of Justice's four-tier electronic supervision management grades.

Recently, Choi held a one-person protest for two months, holding a grudge against a hospital where he had received athlete's foot treatment, and was booked on October 4 for the crime of carrying a weapon in a public place.

Even after being notified by the police of his booking two days later, the Ministry of Justice did not upgrade his management level.

Instead, it was reported that just before the stabbing rampage on October 13, 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 an inquiry from SBS asking whether this was passive handling, an official from the Ministry of Justice explained, "The recent weapon possession case did not involve wielding the weapon against a person," adding, "That level does not fall under 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 evaluating past criminal records and other factors based on a recidivism risk assessment tool, so controversy is expected over the decision that Choi did not qualify as a high-risk individual.

[Kim Dong-a / Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Democratic Party of Korea: The Ministry of Justice must comprehensively re-examine the electronic supervision system. In addition, it should increase the insufficient electronic supervision workforce and specially manage individuals with a high risk of reoffending.]

The Ministry of Justice also stated in explanation, "We were preparing additional procedures to verify whether weapons are possessed in the future."

(Video Editing: Kim Yun-seong, Design: Kim Han-gil, Zegal Chan, Footage provided by: Newsis)