After coming under pressure recently following a series of high profile sex crimes, the government created a website database listing the location of convicted sex criminals in Korea. However, it only lists those who committed their crimes from 2010 onwards, as the 20,000 people who committed crimes before this but haven't been caught again since "are probably OK", according to a government official.
Among the 2,051 convicted sex offenders listed on the government's website, 345 live just outside Real Seoul, and the area with the highest number of offenders for its population size is actually Jeju City on the Korean island of Jeju. Officials in the tourist resort say they will update their publicity materials soon to reflect the claim.
While Real Seoul appears perfectly safe, residents are still advised to be on their guard however. Evidence gathered by the media suggests that one possible reason sex offenders stay away from the area is the competition from the district's foreigners, who have cornered the market on victimizing Korean women there. Because of their frequency, foreign crimes have their own special database and don't appear in the local Korean statistics.
Korean sex offenders "usually live in mid-size cities or on the outskirts of towns where they can remain anonymous" said a doctor at a medical center in the anonymous city of Daegu. It has long been recognized that it is impossible to remain anonymous in Real Seoul, a place where everybody knows your name, which is why sex offenders dare not live there.
In their quest for anonymity, these sex offenders often remain hidden indoors, and have problems adjusting to society. The government has warned people in these areas to be on the look out for pale-looking individuals struggling to communicate who may be working in a job which gives them access to children, such as teaching.
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