'The Depths of Heartless Cruelty' The Unbreakable Chain of Sexual Violence Crimes Among Relatives

Two Cases of Familial Sexual Violence Occur Daily... Calls for Abolishing Statute of Limitations Emerge

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[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Recently, as sexual violence cases committed by relatives continue to occur without pause, voices demanding countermeasures are emerging. There are even survey results showing that sexual violence by relatives happens at a rate of about two cases per day every year. The political sphere has moved to amend laws to prevent these horrific crimes.

On the 31st, a man in his 50s who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter over 300 times for 12 years starting when she was 9 years old was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first trial in Jeonju. Investigations revealed that even after the stepdaughter became an adult, the man repeatedly sexually assaulted her while threatening, "You are my wife because you bore my child," and "If you meet another man, I will kill you."

On the same day in Uijeongbu, a biological father who was tried on charges of forcibly molesting his elementary school-aged daughter after drinking was given a suspended prison sentence. This father is accused of forcibly touching his 9-year-old daughter by putting his hand inside her underwear while she was lying on the master bedroom bed after returning home drunk between 2016 and 2017, and again molesting her in March to April 2020 after drinking and coming home to find her lying down.

Despite the daughter’s resistance at the time of the crime, saying "Stop," the molestation continued. During police investigation, the father denied the charges, saying "I don't remember," but in court, he claimed, "I was drunk and thought she was my wife, and I had no intent."

Meanwhile, on the 8th, a grandfather in his 70s who sexually assaulted his biological granddaughter, who was only 10 years old, for five years and recorded the acts on video was sentenced to 17 years in prison in the first trial. He was prosecuted for sexually assaulting his underage granddaughter six times over about four years starting in February 2013, and for possessing approximately 46 videos of the assaults recorded on his mobile phone.

The severity of sexual violence by relatives is clearly reflected in statistics. According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Seo Jeong-sook, a member of the National Assembly’s Women and Family Committee from the People Power Party, on the 22nd, the number of sexual violence cases by relatives was △776 in 2017 △858 in 2018 △775 in 2019 △776 in 2020. This means that sexual violence by relatives occurs at a rate of about two cases per day every year.

The problem is that, due to the nature of sexual violence by relatives, the perpetrator and victim often live together, making it difficult to immediately separate the victim from the perpetrator. According to the earlier National Police Agency data, among the 776 cases that occurred last year, 512 victims were sexually assaulted by cohabiting relatives, accounting for six out of ten cases.

Because of this, some argue that the statute of limitations for sexual violence by relatives should be abolished. The current statute of limitations for sexual violence by relatives is 10 years from the time the crime ends, but due to the nature of sexual violence among relatives, it often takes a long time for victims to report the crime.

According to a counseling report published last year by the Korea Sexual Violence Counseling Center, when investigating the time it took for victims of sexual violence by relatives to visit the counseling center, only 24.1% did so within "less than one year," while 55.2% took "more than 10 years."

In particular, the most offenses (33.3%) occur when victims are children aged 7 to 13, who find it difficult to recognize the criminal act. Therefore, activists argue for abolishing the statute of limitations due to these special circumstances of sexual violence by relatives.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly is also working on measures against sexual violence among relatives. In January, independent lawmaker Yang Jeong-sook introduced a bill titled "Partial Amendment to the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes," which aims to abolish the statute of limitations for sexual violence by relatives.

Lawmaker Yang stated, "We established a legal basis to protect the human rights of victims by excluding the statute of limitations when victims of sexual violence by relatives become adults or economically independent and try to report the perpetrator." Additionally, in February, Lee Hyeong-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea proposed an amendment to the Sexual Violence Prevention Act to prevent concealment or minimization of sexual violence cases among relatives.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.