SEOUL - A woman in her 50s has been sentenced to six months’ jail and two years of probation for continually harassing her adult daughter.

The harassment, which occurred from December 2021 to May 2022, involved 306 text messages and 111 phone calls, according to Daejeon District Court documents.

There were hundreds of abusive text messages and unwanted visits, which constituted trespassing.

The messages by the older woman initially contained ordinary requests, such as reading the Bible or asking to stay at her estranged daughter’s place.

However, when the daughter did not respond, the messages escalated into verbal abuse, including derogatory comments about the younger woman’s sexual behaviour.

The woman physically stalked her daughter, by visiting her daughter’s home eight times during the specified periods. She also engaged in other threatening behaviours, such as peeping into her daughter’s home.

The mother trespassed six more times despite a police injunction issued in June 2022, according to Daejeon District Court.

Although the mother claimed that her actions were neither intentional nor premeditated, the court rejected her defence.

Along with the jail sentence, the court also ordered her to complete 40 hours of anti-stalking education.

In March 2021, lawmakers in the country passed a stricter law against stalkers – 22 years after it was first raised. The new law went into effect in October 2021.

Under the new law, stalkers can be fined up to 30 million won (S$30,800) or jailed for up to three years. If the culprit is found to have carried a weapon, the maximum penalty increases to a 50 million won fine and five years in jail. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK