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'At least 97 women killed by husbands, boyfriends last year'
At least 97 women were killed by their husbands or boyfriends last year, while at least 113 have narrowly escaped with their lives following extreme acts of violence against them, according to the Korea Women's Hotline, Monday. gettyimagesbank
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
In the past year at least 97 women have been killed by men with whom they were in an intimate relationship, according to a major women's rights organization here, Monday.
The Korea Women's Hotline said the finding was part of its analysis of cases that were reported in the media last year.
In addition to the 97 women who were killed, at least 113 others narrowly escaped with their lives following extreme acts of violence against them committed by male partners.
The organization said the results of its analysis meant that a case in which a woman was killed or encountered extreme violence has been reported every 1.6 days.
“This is a low estimate as there would have been many more cases that have not been reported in the media,” an official from the organization said.
Victims were from all age groups ranging from teenagers through to those in their 70s.
The most commonly cited motive for murder was rejection by the victim. The organization said 23.3 percent of offenders said they had committed the crime because their wives or girlfriends wanted to break up or refused to get back together, followed by 22.8 percent who claimed they accidentally murdered the victims in a fit of rage and 14.9 percent who suspected their victim of cheating.
The organization said it can be difficult for the women assaulted by an intimate partner to acknowledge the act as criminal as many victims justify the violence as merely “a lovers' quarrel.”
“The lenience of courts imposing light punishments on the offenders has contributed to creating this kind of social climate,” the official said, calling on the government and judiciary to pay more attention to the issue.