Full home address of sex offenders to be disclosed

The government will disclose the home addresses of convicted sex offenders and make them available via mobile handsets as part of efforts to effectively protect children from sex crimes, officials said Tuesday.

Under a revised law set to go into effect on June 19, the government will expand the scope of sex criminals' personal information subject to disclosure to include the street name and house number, according to the officials at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

The law was part of the 2013 action plan for a basic plan for women's affairs policy, which was approved during a government meeting presided over by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won.

Currently, those who are convicted of committing sex crimes against minors must submit their personal information, including name, personal identification number, home address and a photo to law enforcement authorities for registration on a Web site (sexoffender.go.kr) run by the ministry. But only partial addresses of offenders will be disclosed, so as to protect the human rights of the offenders' families.

Whether an offender had a previous record of sex crimes or was ordered to wear an electronic location-tracking device will also be disclosed, the officials said.

In addition, the personal information will become available via mobile phones as early as next year, ministry officials said.

"All Cabinet ministries and agencies should make joint efforts to prevent sex crimes and help women do well both at home and at work while paying attention to placing those who are talented in government posts in charge of women's policy," Chung said during the meeting. (Yonhap News)