South Korea Became First Country in Asia to Order Chemical Castration of Child Rapist

South Korean court in landmark ruling on 3 January 2013 ordered the first-ever chemical castration of the country. The sentence of chemical castration was given to 31-year old pedophile (a person who is sexually-attracted to children) along with 15 years of jail term.
 
The order was the first-ever since South Korea passed the law in 2011 allowing chemical castration or hormonal treatment for offenders who are at the risk of repeating crimes.

The defendant, Pyo was charged against a crime of having sex with 5 teenagers six times between November 2011 and May 2012. The defendant met these teenagers through chat service of a smartphone.
 
Pyo threatened these minors to circulate their sexual acts as well as nude photos on the Internet through online video footage. Additionally, he raped the minors while also threatening them using deadly weapons.

Judge Kim Ki-young of the Seoul Southern District Court in his ruling explained that Pyo committed crime against various victims for longer time. In the special ruling, the South Korean court ordered that the information of Pyo should be made public for time duration of 10 years. He was also asked to wear the electronic monitoring anklet for the time duration of 20 years after he was released from the prison. In order to treat the sexual impulses, Pyo was ordered to go through 200 hours of therapy.

In Asia, South Korea was first country to order such a treatment. Other countries to adopt this treatment are Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden as well as U.S. state of California.

The verdict of the Seoul court was passed at a time when India too is debating whether punishments like chemical castration should be introduced or not.