By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Following a court sentencing a rapist to 12 years in jail, while a murderer was given the lesser sentence of 10 years, analysts said Sunday that the verdicts mark a move toward society understanding the gravity of rape and other sexual assaults.
The Busan District Court sentenced a 41-year-old Kim to 12 years imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a woman who had recently given birth.
Judge Koh Jong-ju said, ``Kim raped a woman who had not yet fully recovered from giving birth. The woman appealed to Kim to stop but he ignored her. The victim's baby was with her at the time of the rape, which made the court consider Kim's case exceptionally heinous.'' He added that the perpetrator had made no effort to apologize or repent, which contributed to the heavy sentence.
A 62-year-old identified as Hyeon was sentenced to 10 years in jail for murdering his wife after she ran away from home due to his repeated domestic violence.
Judge Kim Jae-seung said Hyeon had repented his wrongdoing and assisted police, and since the crime was not premeditated, the punishment was lighter.
Observers say the sentences show that rape and other forms of sexual assault are gradually becoming more acknowledged as serious crimes.
Korea now has quite strict laws against sex crimes ㅡ according to the Law to Protect Women and Children From Sexual Violence, convicted sex criminals are subject to prison terms from three years to life, while sexual harassment alone can be grounds to put someone away for 10 years.
Also, earlier this year, the justice minister said the government will consider revising laws to impose capital punishment on child molesters and those committing sexual assaults against adolescents.
However, there has been constant criticism that courts were being too lenient on sex offenders as the rules were ``too tough'' to apply. A spokesman at the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center commented that too many cases were considered to have ``extenuating'' circumstances.
In other countries, sex crimes are dealt with more strictly.
In some American states such as Wisconsin, those who are convicted of two sexual assaults get a life term. This has actually brought down the sex crime rate, the state government reportedly said, which saw other states adopting similar systems.
Observers here are calling for stricter enforcement of the laws to deal with the problem.
According to the Ministry of Gender Equality's research, 29.1 out of 1,000 women were victims of sexual assault or harassment in 2007. About 2.2 of them were raped or were the victims of a rape attempt in the same period.