The Justice Ministry lowered Choi Chung-rak’s electronic-monitoring rating from high risk to intensive after he completed a prison term for attempted murder, citing his participation in addiction counseling and psychological treatment and his compliance with supervision. Records obtained by lawmaker Kim Dong-a show that the ministry kept the lower rating even after police notified it that Choi had been booked for possessing a knife, citing the absence of an allegation that he had swung it at a person.
Choi was later accused of attacking people with a knife at a large mart in Incheon and injuring eight people, intensifying scrutiny of the rating decision and the response to warning signs.