Lee Orders Comprehensive Government Response to Violent Crime

President Lee Jae Myung ordered government agencies on Thursday to prepare extraordinary measures against violent crime, calling for a coordinated response spanning prevention, emergency action and support for victims.

Speaking at a weekly meeting with senior aides and secretaries, Lee said public anxiety had risen after a succession of attacks involving intimate partners, family members and strangers. He urged ministries to treat the issue with the seriousness of a national crisis and respond with what he described as the resolve of declaring war on violent crime.

The president proposed creating an interagency task force and directed officials to examine whether existing prevention and protection systems contain critical gaps. His instructions included reviews of protective devices supplied to victims and the monitoring of high-risk offenders, including people required to wear electronic ankle monitors.

Lee also called for preventive measures tailored to different levels of risk and stronger safeguards for victims. He said authorities should expand personnel, organizational resources and equipment used for emergency responses in the field, emphasizing that the government must establish a robust system for crime prevention, rapid intervention and comprehensive victim assistance.

The directive followed several violent incidents that have intensified scrutiny of Korea's public-safety systems. A stabbing at a large commercial complex in Incheon's Guwol-dong on Tuesday injured eight people. A woman in her 20s remained unconscious after emergency surgery. The 59-year-old suspect had previously served four years in prison for attempting to murder his former wife and was wearing an electronic ankle monitor when the attack occurred.

Other recent cases included the alleged killing of a mother-in-law and abduction of an estranged wife in Seoul's Songpa district on Sunday, followed by the stabbing death of a woman in her 40s on Jeju Island on Monday in a suspected stalking-related attack.

The National Police Agency has ordered a nationwide review of cases involving stalking, dating violence and domestic abuse. The review will examine whether authorities had put adequate protections in place for people considered at risk.

Lee had visited the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday evening, shortly after the commercial-complex attack. He then urged police to focus available resources on preventing violent crime, responding quickly when attacks occur and developing measures to reduce the risk of recurrence. Thursday's instructions broadened that demand into a government-wide effort, with particular attention to women and other vulnerable people who make up many of the victims in such cases.