For the first time, the court has sentenced a repeat sex offender to drug treatment for sexual urges (chemical castration). On December 3, the Criminal Department 11 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Kim Ki-yeong) ordered 3 years of drug treatment along with 15 years in prison for Pyo (31), who was charged for repeatedly raping 5 teenagers whom he had met through a chatting application on his smartphone.

The judge also ruled for the personal information of Pyo to be made public for ten years and ordered him to wear an electronic anklet for twenty years. This is the first time the court has approved drug treatment requested by the prosecution.

Previously in May, the Probation Review Board under the Ministry of Justice had ordered drug treatment for the first time for Park (46) who had raped four children under the age of thirteen. Park is currently on the drugs. However, it was the Ministry of Justice and not the court which had ordered Park to undergo drug treatment.

In the case of Pyo, the court said, "The defendant has a distorted attitude toward sex and cannot control his sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior which have been ongoing for over six months. He needs drug treatment to suppress his desires and sexual urges."

Pyo's drug treatment will start two months before his prison sentence ends. After his release, he will be injected with the drug once every three months and receive psychotherapy. If he avoids treatment and runs, he will be subject to up to 7 years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won.

The annual cost for the drug treatment is about 5 million won per person. The period Pyo undergoes medication can be extended longer than the sentenced three years based on a review by the Probation Review Board. Prosecutors have requested drug treatment for six other sex offenders and are awaiting the court's decision.

Since the defendants have been diagnosed for sexual perversion, a string of drug treatment sentences are likely to be realized. Besides these men, 23 defendants are waiting to be examined for sexual perversion before the prosecution demands drug treatment. Na Jong-seok, the Naju child rapist is also one of these men.

Starting this March the Ministry of Justice will expand the drug treatment to all sex offenders instead of just the sex offenders whose victims were aged 16 or younger, so more criminals are expected to undergo drug treatment.

Under current law, sex offenders may be subject to drug injections through three channels. First, as in the case of Pyo, the prosecution can make a request and the court can approve and sentence the treatment.

Or as in the case of Park, in cases when people have completed their probation period or their treatment under custody but still pose the risk of further crimes, the Treatment-Under-Custody Review Board of the Ministry of Justice can order treatment based on a doctor's diagnosis.

There is also a third way, which has yet to be carried out. The Parole Review Board of the Ministry of Justice can release a prisoner on parole along with drug treatment after a court decision. In this case, the subject bears the cost of the treatment, as long as his economic situation allows it.