South Korean care-home abuse conviction leaves wider allegations unresolved

A Seoul court sentenced the former director of Saekdongwon, a residential home for disabled people in Incheon, to 15 years in prison on 2 September. The first-instance judgment covered sexual offences involving three residents and physical assault involving a fourth. The former director, identified as Kim, appealed on 4 September. He denied sexual assault but admitted some assault allegations; the court found the residents’ central accounts credible despite inaccuracies in some details. [3] [4] [6]

The court did not uphold a rape charge concerning one resident because it found the alleged conduct did not meet the legal requirements for that offence. It convicted Kim under the Disabilities Welfare Act for the same conduct. [3]

The number of residents who may have been harmed beyond those in the criminal case remains unresolved. Yonhap reported that police identified at least six possible victims, while prosecutors brought sexual-offence charges relating to three. Reports on a Woosuk University assessment described sexual harm involving 19 women in one account and 20 residents and former residents in another. The difference, and any overlap with the prosecuted cases, have not been established. [6] [8]

Jeon Ji-su, who led the assessment team, told the BBC that police accepted only accounts from people able to describe abuse in complete sentences. Police said there may have been shortcomings in individual cases, but these should not be treated as representative of the entire investigation. A separate report on interviews with male residents described specialist communication support, but raised concern that they were still living at Saekdongwon when questioned. [1] [8]

Authorities decided in March to close the home but deferred closure while residents were rehoused. Of the 33 people living there when the allegations emerged, the 17 women had been moved to other facilities and six men had moved to family homes or accommodation preparing them for independent living by 2 September. Ten men remained at Saekdongwon on that date, according to Yonhap. Incheon also revoked the operator’s corporate permit in May; the operator challenged that separate decision in court. [6] [8] [10]

A government inspection of all 1,507 disability residential facilities identified 33 suspected harm cases earlier this year, with criminal investigations begun in eight at the time of its April announcement. A later report said 17 of the 33 were assessed as not constituting abuse, six remained under assessment and ten had been registered by police. Those figures describe allegations and stages of case handling, not proven offences. [2] [11]