Stalked from behind bars: A female reporter’s yearslong fight for safety

““The perpetrator’s lawyer said he had read your petition and even praised it, saying, ‘You really can write. I guess that’s what I’d expect from a journalist.’” Gwak Ah-ram, 47, said chills ran down her spine when she heard those words from her lawyer. The perpetrator was a stalker who had harassed Gwak for years — a man whose name she did not even know at first. Gwak had sued him in 2021, and a year later, she was preparing for an appeals trial when her lawyer casually delivered the comment. At first came disbelief. She had written the petition to the court out of desperation, her hands shaking as she asked for severe punishment. But how had the accused’s lawyer been able to read it? In an interview near Gwanghwamun, Gwak recounted the terrifying experience she went through in 2022. Shortly after the conversation with her lawyer, she received a letter from the stalker, who was serving his sentence after the first trial. It included parts of what she had written in her petition to the court, along with curses and expressions of hatred. Gwak said she first turned to the c

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