hankyoreh

from the top: Bangladesh (2001)

By Lee Seung-jun

Physical violence between spouses occurred on at least one occasion during the past year for one out of every six married couples under the age of 65, a Ministry of Gender Equality and Family-commissioned study reports. The study also showed a major increase in the rate of spousal violence due to economic issues compared to three years prior.

The ministry on Tuesday announced the findings of its 2010 study on domestic violence nationwide. The study, which was conducted by the Yonsei University Graduate School of Social Welfare at the ministry's behest, examined 3,800 households across the country with spouses under the age of 65.

The findings showed a rate of physical violence between spouses of 16.7 percent over the past year, or roughly one out of every six couples examined. This marked a 5.1 percentage point increase over the 11.6 percent rate found in a 2007 study.

In particular, the rate of physical violence perpetrated by husbands against wives stood at 15.3 percent, more than five times higher than the 2007 rate in Great Britain (3 percent) and the 2001 rate in Japan (also 3 percent).

The study also showed a 53.8 percent rate of total violence between spouses, including physical, emotional and economic violence as well as sexual abuse and neglect. This represented a 13.5 percentage point increase from the 40.3 percent rate found in the study three years before.

Analysts said that economic uncertainty was a factor in the increase in physical abuse between spouses compared to 2007.

The second most frequent cause of violence cited by victims in this study was economic issues, selected by 29.6 percent of men and 23.2 percent of women. The leading cause was personality issues, selected by 43.1 percent of men and 41.9 percent of women.

The number of respondents selecting economic issues as a cause more than doubled from 2007, when it was selected by 9.5 percent of men and 8.8 percent of women.

"It appears that factors like the aftereffects of the global economic crisis and an unstable economic and employment situation since 2008 have had an impact on violence between spouses," the ministry said.

The study also showed an 85.2 percent occurrence rate of spousal violence among North Korean defectors, making it the group with the highest frequency of domestic violence compared to other households. This includes a 51.3 percent occurrence rate of physical violence, over three times higher than the rate for couples as a whole.

The study also found that 40.9 percent of women in multicultural households were subjected to violence by their husbands at least once during the past year.

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