SHAH ALAM - A petition demanding legal reforms in South Korea’s statutory rape laws has passed the required threshold of 50,000 signatures, triggering a formal review by the National Assembly.
Dubbed the "Kim Soo-hyun Prevention Act,” the proposal seeks to raise the age of protection under statutory rape laws to include all minors under 19 and impose harsher penalties for sexual crimes involving youth.
As of 5pm on April 7, the petition had garnered 51,083 signatures on the National Assembly’s electronic petition platform, meeting the requirement for committee-level consideration.
The petition was first submitted on March 31 and has gained swift public traction due to the controversy surrounding actor Kim Soo-hyun and actress, the late Kim Sae-ron.
"Recently, the grooming sex crime committed by Hallyu star Kim Soo Hyun against child actress Kim Sae-ron, who was a minor at the time, came to light, enraging the public.
"Unfortunately, statutory rape laws currently only protect children aged 13 to under 16, which means Kim Soo-hyun cannot be legally punished,” the petition said.
Criticising the gap in the current legislation, the petitioner added that South Korean law clearly defines minors as those under 18, yet the statutory rape law only protects those aged 13 to under 16, allowing paedophiles to escape legal consequences.
The petition outlines specific legal reforms, including:
- Raising the statutory rape protection age from 13-15 years to 13-18 years (i.e. under 19).
- Strengthening punishment from a minimum of two for rape and fines for molestation, to a minimum of five years for rape and two years for molestation.
The case driving the petition involves unproven allegations that Soo-hyun was romantically involved with Sae-ron when she was still a minor.
Although the two families have publicly disagreed on the timeline and nature of the relationship, the issue has sparked national debate.
In response to the controversy, Soo-hyun held a press conference on March 31 at the Stanford Hotel in Sangam-dong, Seoul and he denied the allegations.
"I did not have a relationship with the deceased while she was a minor,” he said. Prior to the presser, his agency Gold Medalist also published an extensive statement on Sae-ron and the financial debacle.
Now that the petition has met the signature threshold, the relevant committee in the National Assembly must decide within 90 days whether to forward it to the plenary session for full discussion.
If adopted, the "Kim Soo-hyun Prevention Act” could mark a significant shift in how South Korea legally protects minors from sexual exploitation.