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Looking East
Joined: 08 May 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject: Blood in the stairwell |
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I've been here for over a month and haven't posted much. I really haven't had the need to gather info or Korea-bash since I've been having so much fun. I've been to the mud festival, a concert, out every weekend in a new place, meeting tons of people, and, oh yeah, teaching. But something happened last night that I want feedback on.
I was playing cards with four other friends and when we finished we decided to go to Hongdae. It was about 12:30 am or so and as we got out of the elevator on the first floor of my friends building we saw BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!! I'm not kidding, the floor, the walls, it was surreal. We were pretty lit on soju and beer already so we all looked at each other to kind of confirm this was really happening. Outside There were two cops, a man, a woman (bleeding from a gash on her arm) and a boy. We made our way by them and the woman grabs my arm and begs me for help (said my friend who knows Korean). Three of us stay and try to find out what happened and what she wants. The other, smarter two, bail.
What we found out was that she was being beaten by her husband and pushed down the stairs when she reached out and "cut herself" on the postal box in the lobby. The boy was their son, who didn't want to see his father go to jail. He was lying and said she fell. The cops didn't want to make a fuss, so they agreed, she fell. The husband cleaned the mess and the woman (hysterical), my two friends and I argued with the police until they threatened me with violence and jail for calling them liars.
Like I said, my experience here has been so great I haven't had the need to post for awhile, but my god, this was gruesome. Both in the sense that it was a bloody mess, and the total disregard for basic human rights. |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Your honeymoon period is over. |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Welcome to K-land! |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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| crescent wrote: |
| Your honeymoon period is over. |
Yep. In Korea you have to pick your battles and learn to put up with stuff you don't approve of. |
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Looking East
Joined: 08 May 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| crescent wrote: |
| Your honeymoon period is over. |
so true. an understatement actually.  |
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shaunew
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Calgary
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| Never ever get involved with a domestic dispute, Any Korean beating his wife or girlfriend look the other way and walk. I know it sucks, but there is nothing you can do. The only outcome will end up being very bad for the foreigner who gets involved. |
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hugekebab
Joined: 05 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: |
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| comingsoon wrote: |
| My limited experience in Korea tells me that foreigners usually come out on the loosing end. I hope this doesn't happen to you again. |
Just to add a well deserved counter balance, I experienced something similar (although even worse than what's described here) in the UK.
5am I heard muffled screams for help (her mouth was split in half) I went outside (I was on a late session on the PC) and this women came running up to me 'help me, help me, help me' 'my husband tried to kill me; bash my brains in' (the lady was Spanish, her husband Chinese.) She covered me in her thick coagulated blood when she grabbed me, it was disgusting, it was all clotted. The little Chinese husband ran out of the house and I shouted abuse at him, but didn't go near the crazy little fucker.
This womens skull was fractured and her filtrum was split in half. Then she started saying 'my kids, my kids' and I thought 'oh *beep* he's done the kids and then tried to do her.'
I entered her house with trepidation...looked right BAM pints and pints of blood on a shag pile beige carpet, one of the most shocking sights I've ever seen (blood is very shocking in big quantities, you'll only know what I mean if you've seen something similar) and then I saw the statue, a fucking huge solid marble statue. She told the police after (she was totally hysterical and beyond reason at the time) that her husband battered her with this huge, heavy statue WHILE SHE WAS ASLEEP. It was attempted murder, no question.
Anyway, I thought, jesus, the kids must be dead and then i saw them scared shitless at the top of the stairs, I'll never forget it they were so young; horrible memory.
point is, this shit happens the world over, and even in the UK the police were clueless (one of them told me '...and the thing is, unless she makes a complaint, we can't prosecute him'; this was absolute bollocks, even I knew that the UK parliament had recently passed legislation that meant victims of domestic abuse didn't have to place charges; the CPS can directly prosecute) |
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Frankly Mr Shankly
Joined: 13 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:04 am Post subject: Re: Blood in the stairwell |
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| Looking East wrote: |
I've been here for over a month and haven't posted much. I really haven't had the need to gather info or Korea-bash since I've been having so much fun. I've been to the mud festival, a concert, out every weekend in a new place, meeting tons of people, and, oh yeah, teaching. But something happened last night that I want feedback on.
I was playing cards with four other friends and when we finished we decided to go to Hongdae. It was about 12:30 am or so and as we got out of the elevator on the first floor of my friends building we saw BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!! I'm not kidding, the floor, the walls, it was surreal. We were pretty lit on soju and beer already so we all looked at each other to kind of confirm this was really happening. Outside There were two cops, a man, a woman (bleeding from a gash on her arm) and a boy. We made our way by them and the woman grabs my arm and begs me for help (said my friend who knows Korean). Three of us stay and try to find out what happened and what she wants. The other, smarter two, bail.
What we found out was that she was being beaten by her husband and pushed down the stairs when she reached out and "cut herself" on the postal box in the lobby. The boy was their son, who didn't want to see his father go to jail. He was lying and said she fell. The cops didn't want to make a fuss, so they agreed, she fell. The husband cleaned the mess and the woman (hysterical), my two friends and I argued with the police until they threatened me with violence and jail for calling them liars.
Like I said, my experience here has been so great I haven't had the need to post for awhile, but my god, this was gruesome. Both in the sense that it was a bloody mess, and the total disregard for basic human rights. |
Never, never, never get involved. I myself saw a guy passed out in Ilsan last night, lying half on the pavement, half on the road and sat there until the cops came to sort it out. Your involvement in these issues can land you in serious trouble in Korea, sad to say. |
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red_devil
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:38 am Post subject: |
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You think something like this is Korea exclusive? S*it like this happens in almost every major city in the US. You obviously haven't been in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit... 
Hopefully the woman is smart enough to seek out shelters for domestic violence, although i will be honest and say that Korea (like Japan, China, etc) is still very much a male-dominated society with the law leaning towards the husband over that of the wife. Still there are options for her. |
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Evanzinho
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Location: California
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| red_devil wrote: |
You think something like this is Korea exclusive? S*it like this happens in almost every major city in the US. You obviously haven't been in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit...
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So, "in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit..." if a woman that has been battered by her husband asks for help from strangers, the police threaten the bystanders with arrest there too?
I had no idea. |
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Scotticus
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| Evanzinho wrote: |
So, "in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit..." if a woman that has been battered by her husband asks for help from strangers, the police threaten the bystanders with arrest there too?
I had no idea. |
Back home cops used to threaten me all the time for trying to help people gushing blood. I can't even count all the times a battered woman ran from her crazed American wife-beating husband into my arms. Every time the cops would show up and put a gun to my head and tell me to mind my own fucking business or they'd splatter my brains all over the sidewalk. Then they'd chuckle and bit, reunite the happy family and drive off, presumably to do the same thing countless more times during their 8 hour shift.
Man, don't you know ANYTHING about America? |
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red_devil
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:06 am Post subject: |
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| Evanzinho wrote: |
| red_devil wrote: |
You think something like this is Korea exclusive? S*it like this happens in almost every major city in the US. You obviously haven't been in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit...
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So, "in areas of New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit..." if a woman that has been battered by her husband asks for help from strangers, the police threaten the bystanders with arrest there too?
I had no idea. |
I'm pretty sure when you start getting in the face of some cops and the discussion starts getting heated, you're gonna probably be told to back off. Especially if the cops have no fuking idea what you're saying. If you don't than yeah, you'll get threatened with arrest...or if you're in the ghetto maybe a billy club to the back of the knee, whatever. |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: |
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I would have walked by totally ignoring everything. Really, why could I be bothered? Are u kidding?  Wait, I'd also cough up a huge lugee and excrete it as I was walking by as well.
Last edited by spliff on Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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rebel_1812
Joined: 17 May 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| a totally repulsive story. I can't believe the lying and criminality and group acceptance thereof. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| Bollocks to those who say do nothing. I've intervened on 2 occasions now without serious consequences to myself. And I'm not even the biggest or toughest of guys. |
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