Hankyoreh:, Disabled, Sexual, Assault, Victims, Cry, Twice

The Hankyoreh published this article taking stock of reaction to the outrageous decision of a judge in Cheongju to return a mentally disabled teenager to the same family members who had repeatedly raped her because, he said, there was nobody else to take care of her. The Hani also ran this related piece. The first piece was accompanied by the following unbelievably tasteful illustration.

Debate erupted in the media after the Cheongju District Court's recent decision to sentence to probation a grandfather and uncle, had repeatedly sexually assaulted a mentally retarded teenager during the seven years she was in their care, because "there is no one else who can take care of her". The organization Women with Disabilities Empathy (장애여성공감) and over thirty other disabled people's organizations criticized the decision, saying, "this decision leaves disabled people's fundamental rights entirely in the hands of their families, clearly abandoning all social responsibility."

Though left in the care of her family, the 16-year victim, Lee, is living in a home in Cheongju maintained by a children's protection organization because of the risk of fresh victimizations. Because the organization protects children and teens up to 18 years of age, Lee will have to find a new residence after graduating from high school. She could go to a shelter for victims of sexual assault, but the maximum term of stay there is nine months. Lee says, "I do not want to back to where I lived before," but considering the situation there is a strong chance she will have to do just that. A source at the children's protection organization where she is staying said, "if other members of her family, who did not victimize her, ask that she be released, it would be difficult to resist their wishes."

The problem is that if sent back to her family she would again be among her victimizers and at risk of being sexually assaulted. ㅎ, a mentally retarded girl who had lived with her disabled parents, suffered repeated sexual assaults committed by her grandfather over several years. Because the victimizer "made an agreement with the victim's family" he was sentenced to just six months in prison. ㅎ spent nine months living in a shelter before going home, but her attacker had served his prison sentence and was living there again. Bae Bok-ju, head of sexual assault counseling at WDE, said, "disabled women are actually restricted in their choices. Most of them have to live among the family members or neighbors who victimized them."

There are no small numbers of repeat assaults. Min Byeong-woon, head of an organization in Seoul for counselling disabled sexual assault victims (서울장애인성폭력상담소장) said, "it has happened that disabled women have been assaulted again by their fathers after the prison sentences ended. This is because of the policy our society has of limited stays in shelters to nine months."

The low status of societal protection and choice offered to disabled sexual assault victims is reflected in the reckless way they are placed back with their families, and there are growing calls to offer them better protection. Returning sexual assault victims to their families without taking heed of whether the person who assaulted them was a family member or neighbor only leads to more assaults, they are saying.

The immediate need is for there to be more shelters and the length of maximum stay extended. There are just three shelters nationwide for disabled sexual assault victims. They have from 30 to 40 staff and allow stays of up to nine months. There are also group homes for the disabled, but they charge money. There are social aid organizations for the disabled, but few have the resources to properly take care of those who have been sexually assaulted.

The system of social aid should receive reforms at the same time, it is being said. Min Byeong-woon said, "if disabled sexual assault victims were designated recipients of public aid, they could live in group homes for free."

Gweon Eun-suk, head of sexual assault counselling at Dawool (청주장애인성폭력상담소), an organization for disabled people in Cheongju, wants an expansion of the guardianship system. This would allow a third party to take care of a disabled person who either has no family or has been assaulted, physically or sexually, by family members and therefore cannot be entrusted to family. Currently this is only an option for minors and people declared incompetent by a court (한정치산자). The government recently announced that, "the guardianship system will expanded to include disabled people who are not minors."

Bae Bok-ju said, "I wonder what choice there will be years later for the victim of the Cheongju court's ruling. Victims' choices must be expanded to include group homes and guardianship so that they may be able to take the best path in life."

Readers of Korean can find more about the case on Wikipedia.