Civic groups on Friday criticized a court’s sentence of forced chemical castration for a repeat rapist of teenage girls, saying it violates human rights.

The Seoul Southern District Court ruled on Thursday that a 31-year-old convict should be put under hormonal treatment for three years to shut down his sexual desire.

It was the first chemical castration order by a court since the National Assembly passed in 2011 a bill allowing the administration of anti-sex hormone medication for convicted child molesters over 19.

Sex offenders ordered to undergo chemical castration are forced to take injections or tablets that suppress their libido. Most effects are reversible, if the person stops taking the drug.

Advocates claim that the use of chemical castration is an effective and scientific method of reducing sexual crimes.

“Studies showed that the drugs’ use is effective in treating hypersexual patients,” said Lim Myung-ho, psychiatric professor at Dankook University. Lim is the first medical doctor in Korea to perform a chemical castration, on a then 18-year-old patient under his parents’ consent.

“If we can deal with the questions of ethics and problems of costs, it is better to support chemical castration in a way to root out sex crimes,” he said.

Rep. Shin Eui-jin of the ruling Saenuri Party said in a radio interview on Friday that the length of the controversial chemical treatment needs to be extended, adding the Seoul court’s ruling of a three-year treatment won’t be enough to protect citizens from the danger of sexual assaults.

Human rights activist and religious groups announced their opposition to the court’s ruling, saying it seriously infringes basic human rights.

“This is a case of a state abusing its power against its people by law. (Chemical castration) is not a practical measure to reduce sex crime but is a punishment made by politicians that appears to be a populist act,” said Kim Duk-jin, director of Catholic Human Rights Committee.

Experts warned that the injection of multiple drugs to control male hormones will cost a lot of public money and that some would have side effects such as osteoporosis and changes in the cardiovascular system.

Despite the ongoing dispute, the practice of chemical castration is likely to continue. A Busan prosecutors’ office requested a court to order chemical treatment for a 41-year-old sexual offender on Friday. The man is accused of sex offenses against three teenagers.

Prosecutors in Gwangju are also expected to request the chemical castration of a 24-year-old man who brutally raped a 7-year-old girl in Naju.

Several other countries also use chemical castration as a punishment for sex offenders, often with the convict’s consent. About eight U.S. states carry out chemical castrations while some European countries have surgical castration in their laws. Surgical castration involves the physical removal of the testicles.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)