hankyoreh

A room at the Sunflower Center at Seoul National University Hospital where victims of sexual violence can receive counseling. (by Hwangbo Yon

Ms. Kim first visited the Sunflower Center at Seoul National University Hospital in the spring of 2011. The university student, now 23, was suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations. For 12 years since the age of eight, she had suffered terrible abuse from her father. As a child, she didn’t understand that she had been molested. Scared by her father’s warnings that she wouldn‘t be able to live with her parents if she told anyone, she kept the abuse to herself.

“In my third year of middle school, I happened to read an article in the newspaper about a kid who was in a similar situation to me,” Kim recalled at the Sunflower Center on Mar. 31. “That was when I finally understood what I had gone through.”

After that, she had bad dreams night after night. Her hallucinations worsened.

Finally, Kim told her homeroom teacher. She went to a youth counseling center before finally making her way to the Sunflower Center. In the meantime, she told her mother, and the father was sentenced to ten years in prison, where he currently remains.

“Every week, I received a session of counseling treatment, and it was there that I really sensed, ‘I’m alive,’” Kim said.

Kim’s mother, Ms. Nam, also received counseling at the center.

“My daughter had been betrayed by trusted family members, and she felt like she couldn’t trust anyone,” Nam explained. “What I learned here is that I have to trust my daughter no matter what.”

Last year, South Korea‘s 36 Sunflower Centers were visited by 20,218 victims of sexual abuse. The one-stop centers provide support ranging from healthcare center treatment to investigation, counseling, and psychotherapy services. All treatment and support is covered by the state. Its hospital base is one of the features distinguishing it from other shelters for victims of abuse.

As in Kim’s case, sexual abuse often occurs among young children and adolescents and is perpetrated by someone known to the victim. Of the 20,218 reported cases last year, 19,199 of them, or 95%, involved females, while 8,048 (39.8%) involved children under the age of 18. According to data from 2014, around 6.5 of every ten perpetrators were people known to the victim - a family member, relative, or neighbor. The victim or perpetrator’s home was also the single most common place where abuse occurred, cited in 37.5% of cases.

“Sexual abuse is often perpetrated by someone the victim knows, and when it’s only the two of them living together it becomes difficult to prove guilt,” said Park Hye-young, deputy director of the Sunflower Center in Seoul.

“We’re in discussions with related organizations this year toward specializing support for victims of sexual abuse by relatives,” Park added.

The center stresses the importance of victims visiting during the so-called “golden time” - a 72-hour window during which it is still possible to collect evidence on the perpetrator. Victims who arrive provide samples to medical staffers, who classify the evidence in terms of ten stages. Victims are also treated for injuries by gynecology and mental health specialists. Assistance with criminal complaints and trials is provided through police and Korea Legal Aid Corporation services linked to the center, which is also permanently staffed with clinical counselors for psychotherapy and staffers to assist with travel between the center and the victim’s home.

“Evidence against perpetrators was found in 26 of 34 cases submitted to the National Forensic Service last year,” said Woo Gyeong-rae, head of the center’s medical support team.

“It helps in securing evidence if [the victim] doesn’t change clothes and avoids going to the bathroom within 72 hours of suffering abuse,” Woo added.

A 2015 survey of user satisfaction with center services showed high marks for psychological support and counseling services, but a relatively low score of less than four out of five points for accessibility. While 36 centers exists around the country, only 12 of them offer all services in one place like the Seoul center, which is permanently staffed with 25 specialists. The center also operates around the clock on a shift basis, which raises the issue of budget and staffing for specialists. In some cases centers have ended up closing down - as happened at Dong-A University Hospital in Busan.

“A single center runs to around 600 million to 700 million won (US$523,000-610,000) in annual operating costs,” explained Park Hye-young. “With the level of budget we’re currently allocated, we’re having trouble getting the clinical psychology professionals and other specialists we need.”

By Hwangbo Yon, staff reporter

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