Kim Soo Hyun prevention act gains 40K signatures calling for age of consent to be raised to 19 amid Kim Sae Ron dating row

The controversy surrounding Kim Soo Hyun’s alleged relationship with minor Kim Sae Ron in 2015 refuses to die down. The scandal, which first ignited in South Korea, has now spread beyond its borders, fueling public outrage and legal debates.

In response, a formal petition was launched on March 31 via the National Assembly Electronic Petition System, demanding stricter legal measures against statutory rape. The petition, dubbed the "Kim Soo Hyun Prevention Act," calls for raising the age of consent to 19 and enforcing harsher punishments for offenders. As of April 4, 2025, the petition has already gathered 42,939 signatures, covering 86 per cent of the required 50,000 votes in just three days. If it secures the remaining 10,000 signatures within the next 26 days (by the end of April), the proposal will be formally reviewed by parliamentary committees.

Currently, South Korea’s statutory rape laws protect minors only between the ages of 13 and 16, leaving those aged 16 and above without legal safeguards against predatory relationships. The petition argues that this loophole enabled Kim Soo Hyun’s alleged relationship with Kim Sae Ron, who was a high school student at the time. It advocates for expanding protection to cover minors aged 16 to 19 to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Beyond raising the age of consent, the petition also calls for harsher penalties for statutory r*pe. Presently, the law mandates a minimum sentence of two years in prison for convicted offenders. However, the proposed reform seeks to increase the minimum sentence to five years, ensuring stricter legal consequences for such crimes.

With overwhelming public support, the Kim Soo Hyun Prevention Act could mark a significant shift in South Korea’s legal framework for protecting minors from s*xual exploitation. Whether the petition will pass the next legislative hurdle remains to be seen, but one thing is certain—this debate is far from over.

The petition quotes, "Despite the fact that South Korean law clearly defines minors as those under 18 years of age and protects them, the age limit for statutory r*pe, which only protects minors between the ages of 13 and 16, has allowed a pedophile who seduced and deceived a promising female actress from childhood until her death to evade the law. Therefore, in order to prevent a recurrence of something like this, we hereby petition to revise the statutory rape of a minor under the name of the 'OOO Prevention Act."

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