Lenient Sentences in Incest Case Involving Disabled Girl Stoke Protest in Korea
December 3, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Crime, Korea, Legal Issues
In South Korea, a now-16-year old girl with “mental and developmental diabilities” was sexually abused by her grandfather and three uncles for 7 years. The abuse occurred from August 2001 to May of this year—that means she was 9 years old when it started. According to the December 4th Joong Ang Daily, the girl’s relatives were convicted by the Cheongju District Court on November 20. Judge Oh Jun-keun recently gave a three-year suspended sentence to the 87-year-old grandfather and to two of the uncles, 57 and 42; another uncle, 39, was given an 18-month suspended sentence. According to authorities, the girl’s father is also suspected of incest, but the case was dropped against him because the statute of limitations had expired.
In his ruling, the judge said that he showed leniency because the relatives have “raised the victim despite economic hardship.” From his statement:
“It is inhumane for the accused to have repeatedly violated the young victim, who is their relative, by treating her as a tool to release their sexual desires……..It is necessary to hand down serious punishment taking into account the victim’s grave mental state.”
………..
“Taking into consideration her disabilities, she needs continuous support and help from the accused, who are her family members…….Some of the accused are aged and ill, so it is difficult for them to endure prison life. Therefore, I suspend their prison terms.”
Prosecutors had sought five-years’ terms each for the grandfather and two of the uncles, and a three-year prison term for the third uncle.
Outrage at the judge’s rulings has been immense, with “tens of thousands” of people signing an internet petition calling for the impeachment of Judge Oh. Over16,066 have signed the petition as of this posting; the signature drive is to end on December 15th. I’ve been trying to sign the petition (the online forum it is on is in Korean).
Yes, the crimes and the ruling are making me feel a lot more than queasy.
More about this case at:
• Korea Times
• Brian in in Jeollanam-do
• ICAD
• What Sorts of People
• NTs Are Weird
Jeff Stimpson
Jill Cornfield