Hundreds of convicted sex offenders whose identities have been made public live within 1 km of elementary schools.  

Based on data from the Education Ministry, Grand National Party lawmaker Park Bo-hwan of the National Assembly's Education, Science and Technology Committee said Monday that the government believes the sex offenders live within a 1 km radius of 738 elementary schools.

Seoul topped the list with 193 elementary schools, followed by Gyeonggi Province (163) and Incheon (84).

Under a revision to the relevant laws in April, the identities of convicted sex offenders are made public on the Internet and via mail. So far, the identities and whereabouts of 931 offenders have been disclosed.

"Schoolchildren will highly likely fall victim to sex offenders who live near schools because they have a high rate of recidivism and sex offenses occur at places offenders are familiar with," Park claimed. "The government needs to force child sex offenders to live a certain distance from schools or daycare centers."