Dozens of domestic violence bills languish in Assembly as tragedies mount

Police are reviewing measures to strengthen victim protection following a string of deadly domestic violence cases, but the National Assembly has left dozens of related bills untouched for years.

Critics say politicians are quick to condemn police responses when incidents occur, yet the Legislation and Judiciary Committee — the panel responsible for such bills — has been consumed by political battles over prosecutorial reform, leaving life-or-death legislation unaddressed.

According to the Assembly's bill information system, 32 amendment bills to the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence have been introduced in the 22nd National Assembly, all of them pending before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Of those, 16 are at the committee review stage and the remaining 16 have yet to advance beyond initial receipt.

Many of the stalled bills include provisions for tightening the separation and monitoring of perpetrators — measures police are now considering in the wake of the recent killings in Songpa-gu and Jeonju.

Police are examining whether to seek detention even when a domestic violence offender has not violated an existing eviction or restraining order, factoring in the risk of reoffending, and whether to make violations of emergency temporary measures a criminal offense rather than a civil fine.

Attaching electronic ankle monitors to perpetrators is also under consideration.

Bills containing these same reforms were pursued during the 20th and 21st National Assemblies as well, but repeatedly failed to clear a full plenary vote.

The only legislative achievement this year was the passage in March of an amendment to the Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, which upgraded penalties for obstructing or evading on-site police investigations from a civil fine to a criminal offense.

At recent national audit hearings on the Korean National Police Agency and other bodies, lawmakers called for systems to assess danger and respond before protective measures such as restraining orders expire, and urged that repeat complaint histories and restraining-order violations be carefully weighed when applying for arrest warrants to adequately reflect the risk of reoffending.

Against this backdrop, National Assembly Vice Speaker Nam In-soon on Thursday introduced a resolution to form a special committee on intimate-partner violence to consolidate legislative discussions. Experts say future legislative debate should revisit not only the tools for protection but also the stated purpose of the law governing domestic violence and how such cases are handled.

The current Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence states in Article 1 that its purpose is "to restore the peace and stability of families disrupted by domestic violence crimes, to nurture healthy families, and to protect the human rights of victims and family members."

Critics say the framing of "family preservation" as a legal goal has created a tendency in practice to hesitate before intervening forcefully or pursuing criminal punishment against perpetrators.

A report published in March by the Korean Women's Development Institute, titled "Research on Legislation to Strengthen Response to Intimate-Partner Violence and Victim Protection," raised the same concern. It found that because case outcomes often depend on whether the victim wishes to pursue punishment, cases are frequently redirected to a family protection track — involving probation or counseling referrals — rather than criminal prosecution.

The analysis concluded that a structural bias has formed in which whether a relationship continues, rather than the victim's level of danger or need for protection, becomes the central criterion for how a domestic violence case is handled.

The report recommended that "the law explicitly state the principle of holding serious and repeat offenders to effective criminal accountability, while providing victims with support covering housing, livelihood, treatment and independence."

Meanwhile, 17 people who had been issued smartwatches as a safety measure were killed in relationship-based crimes over the past five years, according to data obtained from the Korean National Police Agency by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yang Bu-nam of the National Assembly's Interior and Safety Committee. The data, covering cases from 2022 through Monday, recorded 17 killings and an additional 10 attempted killings involving victims who had received smartwatches.