Too Lenient With Rapists

Dear editor,

There are many reports of incredulous rape cases in Korea these days, but the reason I'm writing is not because of the heinous crime itself but the verdicts that were made (in court cases).

A recent case is one involving a male basketball coach and a female basketball player in training. I guess what the most shocking piece of news is the way that courts are handling the crime.

The judges became lenient toward the coach, citing the fact that he was a national figure. Ha! He is a role model. What are we supposed to learn from him? ``Be a national coach and you can get away with anything.’’

Also, this is classic, he was drunk so he couldn't help raping a girl. Honestly, if I were in school and I had a debate, were I to use this kind of rebuttal, I'd never be able to be a part of a debate ever again.

I would lose the debate instantaneously. Nobody buys it. How do these guys become judges? Don't they have debate class?

The other case is one involving about 40 teenage boys raping one female student on repeated occasions. Just ‘cause they're minors, I believe, they went back to their lives with a clean slate.

There’s no stopping people from raping anyone with leniency. And about the victims, they have to live with this trauma for life. It will always be something that happened.

It's a traumatic experience in itself, but to think that even the law can't protect them is probably more traumatic. I read somewhere that the female student in the multiple rape case ran away because her own family wanted to make monetary settlements to close the case.

Korea is a country that has developed into a modern society in a very short time. It has courts and judges but their values are still very conservative and there are many taboos and shame surrounding certain topics such as sex and rape.

Hopefully the families of these victims will someday sympathize and try to alleviate the victims' pains instead of feeling shame and guilt. Korean society must bring more awareness and sensitivity on these issues.

Overall, there just seems to be very little understanding of rapes and their victims that even the judges show their lack of insight into the severity of the problem.

Remember that the victims are just that. Victims. Try to help them and not judge them.

Mary Yi

Seoul