South Korea has posted the names of 169 sex offenders on the Internet, sparking a nationwide rush to consult the list that jammed the government website.
The names were released in an unprecedented move to stem sex crimes. The government said the publication order reflects mounting public concern over the sexual abuse of boys and girls aged under 18.
But the website of the prime minister's Commission on Youth Protection crashed for several hours as the public scrambled to access it.
Officials said phone lines to the commission were paralysed all day by huge numbers of inquiries.
The commission published the names, ages, dates of birth, addresses and jobs of the offenders and gave brief details of offences. But no photographs were released.
The commission chairman said publication would ultimately help the named offenders by acting as a deterrent against new offences.
The details will be posted for six months on the commission's Internet homepage www.youth.go.krand for one month on bulletin boards, the panel said. The names were also published in the government's official gazette released today.
The number of sex-related crimes reported each year in South Korea has surged 60 per cent over the past five years to 9,775 cases last year, the commission said, citing police statistics.
AFP