hankyoreh

By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter

Case #1, before repeal - November 30, 2010 -

A video of a man in his forties groping the legs of a woman in her twenties on Seoul Metro Line 2 was uploaded onto a web portal. Public opinion was outraged and the man in the video, whose face was clearly visible, turned himself in less than a day later. At the time, this was “a crime requiring the victim’s complaint” - victims of sexual assault in public places had to press charges themselves for the perpetrator to be arrested. This meant that the police had to lead an extensive investigation in order to find the victim before they could start the prosecution proceedings.

Case #2, after repeal - July 26, 2013 -

Mr. Lee, 27, was groping a sleeping woman for over ten minutes on Seoul Metro Line 5. A policeman happened to be at the scene and arrested the perpetrator. However, the inebriated woman left the scene before the policeman could get her contact details. Luckily, another passenger had filmed the assault. This time, the video and the witnesses were enough for the police to charge the man of sexual assault in a public place.

June 18 marked one year since all cases of sexual violence or assault no longer need the victim to file charges in order for a perpetrator to be charged. Since the law has been revised, there has been a significant increase in the number of reports of and punishments for such crimes.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s support center for victims of sexual assault, there were 14,399 reported cases of sexual assault in 2011, 16,735 in 2012 and 20,597 in 2013 - increases of 16.2% then 23%.

Since 2010, sexual crimes against minors have been able to be prosecuted without the victim filing charges. For the past year, since the repeal of the clause for victims over the age of 19, statistics show that the increase in reports of assault has been even more significant for adults.

Reports of sexual violence against minors have increased from 4,830 to 5,294 (9.6%) in 2012. The same year, reports of sexual violence against adults increased from 6,103 to 8,175 (33.9%).

Not only has the clause been repealed, but also the attitude of police officers investigating such crimes has improved. Since it is no longer necessary to find and convince victims to file charges, police have launched their own crackdown on sexual assault. Now, police officers can start criminal investigations before victims come forward.

A prosecutor said on condition of anonymity, “Before, everything depended on the testimony of the victims. Victims had the impression that if they came forward, it would be the case of their word against the perpetrators’, making it difficult to convince them to press charges. Now, investigative teams are playing a leading role in tackling cases of sexual harassment and assault. They continue to encourage victims to come forward, but they’ve also been able to make real efforts to prosecute these criminals themselves. That‘s why the conviction rates for sex crimes have gone up.”

But Dr. Lee Seung-hyun of the Korean Institute of Criminology says, that repealing the clause that takes into account the wishes of the people involved could potentially harm the victims even more. “Third parties can now report sexual crimes. I think that investigative teams need to be more prepared and do more research on how they would protect the rights of a victim who may not want the perpetrator to be prosecuted.”

In response to this statement, Hwang Eun-young, head of investigations in the department of crimes involving women and children at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said, “When we are talking about victims of sexual assault, we’re talking about those who need the benefit and protection of the law. It’s actually very rare for a third party individual to step up and press charges anyway. Even when he or she does, if the victim refuses to participate in the investigation, it’s still hard for us to get enough evidence. This could lead the judge to dismiss the case due to lack of evidence.”

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