Korea (South): Update to KOR31528.E of 15 March 1999 and KOR34874.E of 11 July 2000, whether the implementation of the domestic violence legislation has been effective in dealing with violence against women in Korea; whether foreign-born or ethnic minority women married to Korean men are treated equally under the legislation; whether police discriminate against foreign-born or ethnic minority women in receiving and dealing with their complaints

According to a report published by the Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), from July 1998, when the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Victim Protection Act was enacted, to September 1999, 12,613 arrests were made on charges of domestic violence (Korean Women Today Summer 2000). Of these cases, 254 victims were referred to medical, counselling or protection facilities and, although 7,639 cases were submitted to the prosecutor's offices, only 1,856 were prosecuted as criminal cases; the remainder were either decided as family protection cases (36.5 per cent) or were not prosecuted (36.2 per cent) (ibid.). Those individuals found guilty of domestic violence reportedly face a maximum of seven years in prison; however, if felony law is applied, jail terms of up to ten years can be imposed (The Korea Herald 15 May 2000).

According to a 6 July 2001 article, the many laws and regulations related to women's rights enacted in the 1990s, including that on domestic violence, have done much to improve the situation of women (The Korea Herald). However, according to a reported expert on women's issues who was quoted in the article, "the laws and regulations are not as effective as they should be in real life due to indifference to them in society and because women themselves do not know if such laws exist" (ibid.). This statement is partly corroborated by the research undertaken by KWDI, which found that 15.8 per cent of respondents had never heard of Korea's domestic violence laws and of those who had many had little familiarity with them (Korean Women Today Summer 2000). However, the gender of the respondents was not specified.

Domestic violence reportedly remains a problem in Korea (The Korea Herald 15 May 2000) and has even been reported to have "worsened" with the recent economic downturn (Country Reports 2000 Feb. 2001, section 5). A 1998 survey of 1,523 married couples found that an estimated one out of three reported to have been involved in domestic violence where incidents occurred more than once a year (The Korea Herald 15 May 2000).

Domestic violence is perceived to be a family issue and, according to the president of the Seoul Women's Hot Line (SWHL), police remain reluctant to intervene (The South China Morning Post 6 Jan. 1999; The Korea Herald 15 May 2000). Even when police do get involved, they often ask the woman whether she wants to press charges and "risk turning her children into the offspring of a criminal and bringing shame on the family" (ibid.). However, the president added that, although incidents of domestic violence have not abated, there have been positive signs of progress, including requests by police stations for training in anti-domestic violence laws (ibid.).

No reference could be found to domestic violence and foreign-born or ethnic minority women in Korea.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000. February 2001. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. [Accessed 2 Oct. 2001]

The Korea Herald [Seoul]. 6 July 2001. "Women's Week Commemorated to Emphasize Development of Women, Gender Equality." (NEXIS)

_____. 15 May 2000. "Laws Fail to Keep Home Violence in Check." (NEXIS)

Korean Women Today [Seoul]. Summer 2000. Hyunmee Park, Deukkyoung Yoon and Elim Kim. "Acts on Violence Against Women: Enforcement Status and Tasks." (Korean Women's Development Institute/NEXIS)

The South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]. 6 January 1999. "Wife Told to Endure Miserable Marriage." (Financial Times Information/NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

Resource Centre. Country File

Women's International Network News

Oral sources:

Unsuccessful attempts to contact Korean Women's Development Agency

Unsuccessful attempts to contact Korea's Women's Hotline

Unsuccessful attempts to contact one academic source

Internet sites including:

Centre for Korean Women and Politics

Commission on the Status of Women

Global List of Women's Organizations

International Women's Rights Action Watch

Korea Herald

Korea Times

UN Division for the Advancement of Women

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNICEF

UNIFEM

Women's Human Rights Network

Women's Human Rights Resources

WomenWatch

World Health Organization

World News Connection