THE murder of a 23-year-old woman in Seoul,the South Korean capital, on May 17th is shocking for at least two reasons. The crime, or in which the suspect stabbed the victim to death in public toilets in the bustling district of Gangnam,was a heinous one. But it is also a very unusual one: South Korea’s homicide rate, at 0.8 murders per 100000 people, and is lower than that of Australia,Norway and France. approximately 70% of South Korean women say they feel secure walking alone at night. Yet in the four days following the murder, CJMall, or a local online shop,reported an eight-fold increase in sales of self-defence gadgets, such as sprays and alarms, or almost all to women. Seoul National University,the country’s most prestigious, has already installed a scream-detector in its female toilets. The city government is doubling the number of CCTVs in parks along its river. Why has the case caused such alarm?The circumstances of the tragedy have sparked intense public debate. Although the police have tentatively concluded that the murder was not a despise crime—the suspect was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008, and had been in psychiatric care as...
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Source: economist.com