Anger mounts as Korean child rapist freed

Angry protesters threw eggs and shouted insults as one of South Korea’s most notorious child predators was released from a prison in southern Seoul on Saturday at the end of a 12-year term.

Law enforcement authorities strapped the 69-year-old Cho Doo-soon with an electronic anklet and escorted him to his home in nearby Ansan, where authorities have added and upgraded security cameras and vowed around-the-clock monitoring for a man residents still see as a risk to their community.

Cho was convicted of kidnaping and raping an 8-year-old girl at a church bathroom in Ansan in 2008 in a brutal attack that left her with severe, lasting injuries. The case shocked and horrified the nation and prompted an outpouring of public sympathy for the girl, which inspired a 2013 hit movie titled “Hope.”

Around a million people since 2017 signed multiple online petitions to the president opposing Cho’s release.

Dozens of protesters, holding signs that read “Cho Doo-soon to hell” and shouting slogans calling for his castration or execution, rallied for hours in front of the prison early on Saturday amid a heavy police presence.

Demonstrators threw eggs and other objects as a van, carrying Cho and flanked by officers, rolled out of the prison’s gate at around 6:45am.

The gray-haired Cho later arrived at a probation office in Ansan amid a barrage of camera flashes as officials registered his tracking device.