Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DosEquisXX]

I heard a husband and wife arguing in the apartment next to me. The husband hit the wife hard enough that I could hear it.

I do not speak Korean. I did nothing about it. Was this the right decision?

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[DosEquisXX]

[mc_jc]

Yes, the best thing to do is to let the couple handle it themselves.
All you have to do is do a search on husband/wife or even boyfriend/girlfriend beatings and see what happened to some of the posters who intervened.
Some of the victims actually stick up for their attacker, leaving the person who intervened looking bad or even getting arrested.

So again, yeah you did the right thing.

[RufusW]

Well... there's the possibility of getting a Korean co-worker to call it in anonymously for you. If there's other neighbours I suppose they wouldn't know it was you.

Quite a conundrum. What what you do if you saw him hit her? What would you do if it happened outside their apartment? I don't know.

[redaxe]

You could make a noise complaint, but for god's sake do not try to break up a fight between a husband and wife in Korea. Chances are that both of them will turn on you.

[mayorgc]

2 of my neighbors beat on their wives/girlfriends. Sounds like MMA sometimes. One time, the woman sounded like she was getting killed or raped or something.

I cared at first, but I seemed to be the only one, so I stopped.

[Geckoman]

Domestic violence is in fact against the law in Korea.

In you don't know Korean, to report domestic violence, call the 24-hour tourist hotline at 1330. They provide English service. Tell the person that you don't speak Korean so you need them to call the police for you and give them the location of where the problem is at.

I did that once. It was late and night and some guy and his woman where having an argument and he was holding a big stick. There was some shoving but he didn't wack her with the stick but likely would of. The lady herself was tough but foolish and she would shove back instead of simply leaving. The guy was way bigger than her plus he had a big stick, so she should of just ran away instead of pushing back. The place was crowded with people but nobody seemed to care.

I called the 24-hour tourist hotline at 1330 and gave the person on the other line all the info and just then two cops run over to the couple. So someone had already called before I did. So I then told the person that the cops had just arrived so there was no need for her to call the police also.

[Rocktek]

[tokkibunni8]

Leaving it alone was probably best for you. I experienced that about two years ago. It would happen late night (2am etc) quite often and I just crank up my music pretending nothing was happening.

The sad part is that the highrise apartment I live in has many of my students living here. This couple has two students that I taught during that time. It was hard trying not to do anything about it knowing that the kids were likely in the apartment at the time.

I figured if i can hear him shouting and she crying and awful noises like things being thrown then I'm sure my other neighbors (across and next to their apartment) can heaer it too and if they're not doing anything then why should I, a foreigner, try to.

[vaticanhotline]

Unfortunately, this kind of thing isn't about "cultural values", but about human nature. Victims of domestic abuse will often blame themselves for being beaten, and will rush to defend their attacker. The other posters are right, the best thing to do is to stay out of it, unless you're fluent in Korean, but to say that the behaviour of the victim is culturally unique to Koreans or Asians in general is simplistic at best and racist at worst.

[blackjack]

If they won't come out for a domestic violence case you can always make a noise control complaint.

also you sure you heard what you heard. I had an ex that used to throw things and make a lot of noise. Just saying

[tokkibunni8]

[Zulethe]

Don't let your fellow scaredy cat teachers dissuade you from doing what's right.

Next time it happens, knock down the door, put him in a sleeper (if you don't know what one is just ask captain korea) and briskly sweep the damsel off her feet.

She will think she has been rescued by prince charming and divorce him on the spot and go live with you.

[Oliver]

It's a toughie. Back home we wouldn't think twice about phoning the police. In Korea it can be difficult. You can actually feel very alienated listening to it. At the end of the day though it comes down to what is right or wrong. Beating another human being is wrong. You can choose to do nothing or you can choose to act.

The culture argument begins to wear very thin very quickly.