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Kepler
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:57 am Post subject: Film Underscores Koreans' Growing Anger Over Sex Crimes |
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SEOUL � At an appeals court in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 2006, a school official was convicted of raping a 13-year-old deaf girl and sentenced to one year in prison. When the verdict came, an outraged middle-aged man, also deaf, let out an incomprehensible cry from the galley, signaling frantically with sign language.
�It was clear that the man was shouting, �This is wrong! This is wrong!�� Lee Ji-won, a newspaper intern, wrote in her blog later that day under the subject line, �I saw the foul underside of our society.�
The man was forcibly removed for disrupting the courtroom. And that might have been the end of it. Except that the intern�s blog inspired a best-selling author, Gong Ji-young, to write a novel based on the sexual assaults at the Inhwa School for the hearing impaired, the school�s attempts to conceal the abuses and the victims� struggle for justice.
Now, a film based on that novel � �Dogani,� or �The Crucible� � has roiled South Korea....
The head of the Supreme Court admitted that �society is simmering with resentment� toward a legal system long criticized as �yujeonmujoe mujeonnyujoe,� or �not guilty for the rich, guilty for the poor.�....
In the Inhwa case, four teachers and administrators � including its principal and his brother � were convicted of raping or sexually molesting at least eight students aged 7 to 22, some orphaned or mentally disabled, from 2000 to 2004.
But only two of the four served any jail time. The principal was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl and taking a bribe of 3 million won, or $2,630, from a teacher. But he was freed when an appeals court suspended his sentence....
In South Korea, sex crimes generally can be prosecuted only if the victim presses charges, and charges are often dropped if a financial settlement is reached between the defendant and the plaintiff. Two years ago, the law was revised to require that all sex crimes involving alleged victims aged 18 or under be prosecuted, even if they have not themselves pressed charges. Following the uproar over �The Crucible,� the government has promised to extend this to cases where the alleged victims are mentally or physically disabled.
When sexual assault cases involving victims aged 13 and under come to trial now, roughly 95 percent of defendants are found guilty, but penalties are weak, with about a third receiving prison terms and the rest receiving suspended sentences or assessed fines. Half of the teachers who were convicted of sexually assaulting their students or others were given nothing more severe than a pay cut or a short suspension, according to the Education Ministry.
�Many of the facilities for the disabled are stamping grounds for human rights abusers,� said Ser In-whan, secretary general of the Korean Federation of Organizations of the Disabled. �It�s not just Inhwa School.� |
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/world/asia/film-underscores-koreans-growing-anger-over-sex-crimes.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 |
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DIsbell
Joined: 15 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Half of the teachers who were convicted of sexually assaulting their students or others were given nothing more severe than a pay cut or a short suspension, according to the Education Ministry. |
WHAT.
THE.
****. |
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ghostrider
Joined: 27 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| It's good to see Koreans honestly confronting a problem in their society. Is this movie available with English subtitles? |
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Stout
Joined: 28 May 2011
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| Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:04 am Post subject: |
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Why is any of this shocking in the least?
Once you understand that the same scum (who made 30% of the population slaves during the good ol' Joseon and unfairly prosecuted/massacred tens of thousands between 1945-1953) have been ruling this country for more than 600 years it all makes sense.
I'm shocked when something genuinely good happens. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:29 am Post subject: |
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| ghostrider wrote: |
| It's good to see Koreans honestly confronting a problem in their society. |
You mean blaming foreigners even more? |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't really have anything productive to add, but thanks for posting the article. |
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ghostrider
Joined: 27 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 2:46 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
| ghostrider wrote: |
| It's good to see Koreans honestly confronting a problem in their society. |
You mean blaming foreigners even more? |
Did you even read the article? You must have some kind of persecution complex. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:28 am Post subject: |
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| I feel one way Korea is dealing with this is by lumping foreigners along with the actual criminals in the same group. People are getting more pissed off about the actualy injustices but certain factions are not losing this opportunity to villainize foreigners as well. |
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