hankyoreh

Kim Cheol-soo's (pseudonym) wife, who suffered brain damage after being assaulted during an altercation with a neighbor over noise, receives treatment at a hospital. (courtesy of Kim’s family)

Editor’s note: No one expects to become a victim of crime. However, in South Korea, 2.8 in every 100 people become the victim of a crime each year (as of 2021). Crime can happen to anyone at any time. While perpetrators should be held accountable for those crimes, the state should be responsible for helping the victims cope with the damage. The Hankyoreh carried out 10 in-depth interviews with victims of crimes and their families. In this series, we share their pleas for help from society.

His wife can now barely hold a spoon. When she places kimchi on her rice, she moves slowly to eat. She is still incapable of using chopsticks.

Kim Cheol-soo’s (a pseudonym) wife is paralyzed on the right side of her body because she has yet to recover function in her left brain. She cannot speak.

Their daughter, who is in her 20s and has a distinctive 7-centimeter scar on her right cheek, has become a reclusive alcoholic. She says that she will need to receive laser surgery for the rest of her life. Unable to show her face in public, she says, she locks herself away in her room each day and sips liquor from a plastic bottle.

The Kims were poor but happy. The couple put food on the table with courier work. After studying in China, their daughter was back in Korea working as a temp worker at a public agency. The family of four, including their son, used to gather around the kitchen table each night to chat. It took less than half a day for this family to fall apart.

The Kims were the victims of a crime that made headlines in 2021. On Nov. 15 of that year, the family’s upstairs neighbor armed himself and attacked the family after a series of altercations over noise complaints the family had made to the police. The incident in Incheon brought on the wrath of the nation when the two police officers responsible fled the scene and failed to stop the rampage.

The assailant, who lived on the fourth floor, regularly came banging on the Kims’ door, claiming that the sounds of the family laughing — even their toilet flushing — was so loud it could be heard upstairs. He retaliated with noise of his own, hitting his floor with a hammer.

All of the Kims, including their dog, went around on tiptoe, but to no avail. The police were brought in four times. Finally, they decided to move. The day before their move, their upstairs neighbor came downstairs with a weapon and stabbed Kim’s wife and daughter.

Kim’s wife suffered a severe wound to the neck, and her heart stopped beating for over two minutes. A lack of oxygen inflicted damage on her brain. She underwent surgery to remove part of her skull. She now has the cognitive capacity of a 1-year-old. Treatment, rehabilitation, and care alone costs 4 million to 5 million won (US$3,000-$3,800) a month.

Kim takes care of his wife, who is even unable to use the toilet alone. He tried hiring caregivers, but their neglect combined with his wife’s inability to communicate her need to urinate led to a bladder infection, which then led to surgery. He tried to find short-term work, but it was untenable. The Kims have effectively no source of income. Kim went everywhere to ask for monetary help — from the local community center to the district office.

The legal process was also complicated. It took Kim four months to be granted guardianship from the court so that he could take care of the registered bills in her name and gain access to her bank account. He doesn’t know how many times he had to issue a family relationship certificate.

“I hate the police, I do,” Kim said. “But as of now, I just want to say that it’s very hard to make ends meet.”

Kim Cheol-soo's (pseudonym) wife, who suffered brain damage after being assaulted during an altercation with a neighbor over noise, requires an array of medications. (courtesy of Kim’s family)

The Incheon Crime Victim Support Association reached out to help Kim off the brink. The private non-profit organization is commissioned by the government and funded by the Crime Victim Protection Fund, which takes a certain percentage of fines paid by criminals. Kim was able to receive monetary support for his wife’s and hospital expenses and care.

“In the first two months, I even had to ask my friends for money. But the center went out of their way to help. I can’t forget what they did for us,” he said.

But even this support was temporary. Support ended when Kim’s wife was classified with a Class 1 disability. The last monetary support she received was a “disability relief fund” under the Criminal Victim Protection Act, which provides a lump sum if a person is left with a physical disability. Kim stated that, at this rate, “it will be difficult to survive even a year” with the money.

Support from the state was temporary, but the pain faced by the broken Kim family is enduring. The economic and emotional distress of their situation has stolen the once happy family’s peace.

“My daughter used to be so affectionate, and we used to go to see my in-laws often,” Kim said. “Everything changed after the incident. Now I don’t even like being around my children — that’s how strained our relationships have become.”

Severely lacking police response

Kim is suing the government for 1.8 billion won (US$1.3 million) in damages to hold the police accountable for an inadequate response to the situation. While the CCTV footage of two responding officers leaving the scene without authorization garnered 3 million views almost overnight, there was much more to their insufficient response.

Two other police officers were initially called to the scene due to a call from the daughter, who was home alone four to five hours before the incident. At the time, the man on the fourth floor, who had been trying to force open the door with a weapon, had left a pool of blood in the hallway after cutting his hand. The daughter pointed the blood out, but Kim claims that the officers left without doing anything.

“Just thinking about the police makes me grit my teeth,” Kim said.

Whether Kim will prevail remains up in the air. A lawsuit against the state for damages brought by the family of a woman in her 30s who was murdered by Seo Jin-hwan, in what became known as the “Junggok neighborhood murder” in August 2012, was only decided in favor of the plaintiffs in February 2023, 11 years after the murder. Just like seeking financial support, the legal process represents a long, grueling process for victims of crimes.

At the end of 2022, for the first time in a while, Kim pushed his wife’s wheelchair to go for a walk near the house they lived in when the incident occurred. He says that his wife, who is usually immobile, must have recognized the old house, as she made a small noise that only her husband could discern. Kim hugged his wife and cried profusely. He cannot fathom how much more tears he will have to shed.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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