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By AP News May 24, 2012 5:00PM UTC

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea plans to chemically castrate a sex offender convicted
of repeated crimes against children, the country’s first use of the punishment, officials said Thursday.

The 45-year-old man will get an injection Friday that lowers testosterone-producing hormones and aims to inhibit sexual impulses,
Justice Ministry officials said on condition of anonymity citing department rules.

South Korea passed a law in 2010 allowing judges or a Justice Ministry panel the option of ordering chemical castration after a series of
violent sexual assaults on children sparked public outrage.

The man to be castrated this week was convicted four times between 1984 and 2002 of raping or sexually molesting girls under the
ages of 13, the ministry said in a separate statement. A psychiatric test has concluded the man is a pedophile and needs medication,
the officials said.

He will be released from prison in July under the condition that he receive injections every three months for three years, according to
the ministry.

Under the law, those who refuse or miss an injection could be returned to prison for up to seven years.