hankyoreh

By Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself… Though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.”
Judge Lee Tan-hee of the Gwangju District Criminal Court quoted these lines from the 1923 book “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) in sentencing a father to two years in prison for beatings and injuries to his 13-year-old daughter.
The father, a man in his forties identified by the surname Kim, had been raising the child by himself since a divorce.
Lee recommended the book to Kim because of concerns about the emotional scarring on his two children. In its ruling, the court said the “loss of autonomous problem-solving capabilities must be sternly punished, if only to protect the children.”
The court also recognized the possibility that “rage will take root deep in the hearts of the abused children and, if left alone, could lead to larger crimes.”
Kim had been living with his daughter and son since a November 2008 divorce. The father, who had received a summary order for a fine after twice being indicted for violence against his now ex-wife, began subjecting his daughter to abusive treatment. He was indicted for abuse and injury after inflicting violence on at least fourteen occasions through the first half of 2011, including a March 2011 incident when he beat her at a Gwangju apartment.
He continued the abuse after his daughter’s leg was put in a cast following a traffic accident. In the process, he broke a glass bottle on the living room floor and pushed her over, resulting in glass shards becoming embedded in her foot.
Kim was also found to have used abusive and menacing language. On one occasion, he threatened her with a knife and said, “Let’s both die together.” On others, he told her she should “become a bar girl” and “meet some guy and use your body.”
Kim’s daughter made three separate reports to child protection services and notified her school and the police. But they failed to follow through after the father adamantly protested and lied that he had never used abusive language.
Another opportunity to report the abuse to police came in June 2011 when Kim’s daughter attempted to run away from home to escape the abuse and happened to be witnessed by a counselor, who helped her contact them.
After the incident, the mother successfully sued the father for changes to custody and parental rights. Since then, she and the daughter have been living in Seoul.
　
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]