By Kim Do-yeun
The author of “Dogani,” the controversial book about sexually abused disabled children that was released as a movie in September, openly attacked the Korean legal system during a debate Tuesday at the Supreme Court in southern Seoul.
Author Kong Ji-young, who was on the panel for the debate on reforming the laws on sex offenders, said that sex crimes are a more serious offence than homicide. She urged the court system to adopt heavier penalties for sex criminals against children and the disabled.
Kong mentioned her own experience as a victim of an aggression during her second year in college, saying, “I couldn’t walk the streets on my own for one year and a half, even though I’d escaped from my aggressor and avoided more serious trauma.”
She emphasized that the court must first change the way it understands young or disabled victims of sex crimes, who suffer from trauma and unstable mental states including schizophrenia and self-hatred.
“The court is mostly lenient toward offenders in accepting their requests to delay trial,” said Lee Yoon-sang, director of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, who also participated in the debate.
Lee Ju-won, professor at Korea University Law School, added that “in sex crimes, actual consensus between the victim and the offender cannot exist,” and the court must limit granting trial postponements to offenders using this as a reason to delay trial.
The Supreme Court’s board on sentencing laws voted on Nov. 21 to tighten standards for sex crimes against the disabled, as well as for children under the age of 13.