[2026 National Assembly Audit] 27 Murders and Attempted Murders Despite Smartwatch Issuance in the Past Five Years

Over the past five years, 27 people who had been issued smartwatches were killed or threatened with murder in relationship-based crimes, including domestic violence, stalking and dating violence. Critics say that the effectiveness of practical measures to protect victims, such as restraining orders and pretrial detention, must be improved in addition to issuing smartwatches.

Yonhap News

According to data on “Murders and Attempted Murders After Smartwatch Issuance” submitted by the National Police Agency to Yang Bu-nam, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, there were 17 murders and 10 attempted murders after smartwatches were issued from 2022 through October 12 this year.

The number of murders was five in 2022, one each in 2023 and 2024, five last year and five this year. By crime type, with overlapping counts, there were 14 cases of domestic violence, 10 of stalking, eight of dating violence and one of sexual violence. Stalking often occurred alongside domestic violence or dating violence.

In a number of cases, multiple protective measures were provided, including smartwatches, registration with the 112 emergency reporting system and tailored patrols, but failed to prevent harm. These included the 2022 killing of a former partner with a weapon in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, as well as domestic violence murders in Seoul in 2023 and Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, in 2024. Victims in those cases had received related protective measures, but the crimes were not prevented.

Another limitation is that a smartwatch’s battery can run out in as little as three days, even when fully charged, requiring victims to charge and manage the device themselves. There have also been cases in which police sought arrest warrants, but prosecutors did not request them or courts rejected them, preventing authorities from taking suspects into custody.

In 2022, in Guro-gu, Seoul, police sought an arrest warrant for a man who had killed his former partner on charges including assault three days before the murder, but prosecutors did not request the warrant. In the Daegu stalking murder case in June 2025, prosecutors sought an arrest warrant that had been requested weeks before the crime, but the court rejected it.

To strengthen responses to relationship-based crimes, police are considering measures to strengthen the isolation of domestic violence perpetrators and penalties for violating restraining orders to a level comparable to those for stalking crimes. Critics say that preventing repeated victimization requires more than issuing smartwatches: authorities must review the entire victim-protection system, including the isolation of perpetrators and the swift taking of suspects into custody.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.