Cho Doo-soon, who served a 12-year prison term after kidnapping an eight years old girl and raping her in a church bathroom in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, in 2008, enters a probation center in the city in this Dec. 12, 2020 file photo / Korea Times file

Cho Doo-soon, one of the nation's most notorious child rapists, who was released two years ago after serving a 12-year prison term, is scheduled to move into a new home in Ansan, 40 km south of Seoul, officials said Tuesday.

Cho, 70, who served time for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old girl in 2008, left prison in December 2020 and moved into a rented home in Ansan's Wa-dong district amid strong protests from the neighborhood residents.

As his monthly rental contract is set to expire on Nov. 28, Cho has found a new rental home in the Gyeonggi Province city's Seonbu-dong district, according to the officials at Ansan City Hall.

Cho's new rental contract was reportedly signed last week by his wife as before, they added.

Seonbu-dong residents and local activists are expected to put up a strong opposition against the former convict moving into their neighborhood, particularly because an elementary school is located within about 300 meters of his new home.

When Cho arrived in Ansan two years ago, a huge public outcry erupted, and angry protesters threw eggs at him and shouted slogans calling for him to be executed or expelled from the city.

Police have since monitored Cho round-the-clock through numerous surveillance cameras and other means amid public concerns of a potential criminal relapse by the ex-convict. (Yonhap)