Elementary Students Drive Stolen Car for Over 4 Hours: 'Juvenile Offender' Status No Shield

[Anchor]

Elementary school students have been apprehended by police after driving a stolen car without a license for over four hours. It was discovered that one of the students had been involved in a car theft and subsequent accident just a week prior. Instead of releasing these children, who are under the age of criminal responsibility, to their parents, the police have sent them all to a protective facility.

Reporter Yoo Soo-hwan has the story.

[Reporter]

A white sedan climbs onto the sidewalk and slowly comes to a stop in front of a crosswalk.

To the surprise of onlookers, the individuals who step out of the vehicle are elementary school students, shorter than the car itself.

On May 20, students identified as A and B secretly took a car belonging to B's father from an underground parking lot in an apartment complex in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, and drove it without a license.

They drove for 60 kilometers over the course of four hours, traveling from Cheonan to Dangjin.

Police, who were dispatched following a report from a guardian that their son had stolen a car, tracked the students down and apprehended them in front of an internet cafe in Dangjin.

It was revealed that student A, who engaged in this dangerous unlicensed driving, had been caught just a week earlier for another car theft in Cheonan.

During that previous incident, the vehicle A and others had stolen was driven at high speed through a school zone before crashing into a guardrail.

At that time, police obtained an emergency escort warrant for student C, who was driving the vehicle, and sent them to a protective facility. However, student A, who was only a passenger, was sent home because they were under the age of 14 and classified as a "juvenile offender" (a minor who cannot be held criminally liable).

However, after A committed a similar crime just one week later, the police decided to send both A and B to a protective facility, just as they did with C.

[Oh Seon-a / Chief of Women and Youth Affairs, Cheonan Dongnam Police Station: We determined that there was a very high risk of these juvenile offenders being exposed to further criminal activity, and that simply entrusting them to their guardians would not be sufficient for proper protection, supervision, and management.]

As social interest in the issue of juvenile offenders grows, fueled recently by the popularity of the Netflix drama "True Education," investigative agencies are increasingly applying for emergency escort warrants when they determine there is a high risk of recidivism and that parental supervision is inadequate, even for those under the age of criminal responsibility.

A lawyer who previously served as a juvenile court judge told SBS, "Unlicensed driving by juveniles under the age of criminal responsibility should be viewed more seriously than that of adults," adding, "Simply releasing them to their guardians is not the answer; firm and serious measures are essential."

(Video reporting: Kim Kyung-han, TJB | Video editing: Park Ji-in | Source: Yonhap News TV, Netflix)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.