Cases of child abuse by parents or adults give society goose bumps or a lump in the throat out of sadness and outrage. A child was habitually beaten by the father and left for dead by the mother. An undernourished girl was caught stealing snacks from a mom and pop shop and was discovered to have been mistreated like an abandoned dog by her parents.
Society is outraged by and worries about acts of child abuse which speak to its own imperfections, but as usual dares not to go one layer deeper to confront the even more uncomfortable truth ― rapes of children by their parents.
These cases are even more complicated because those involved ― perpetrator fathers, condoning mothers and raped children ― often conspire to keep silent, which enable the crimes to go on for longer and the damage, psychological and physical, to go deeper.
About 500 cases of rapes by parents have been reported every year. According to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, in 2012, about 466 such cases were reported with 254 arraigned. In 2013, it was 502 for 305; in 2014, 564 for 276; in 2015, 520 for 252 and by June this year, it was 232 for 114.
The Seoul Daily, a Korean newspaper, cited one case in its Aug. 14 report about a 14-year-old girl, identified as Ji-yeon, who had been habitually raped by her father since 2009 when she was seven. Her father continued his heinous crime as he realized his daughter kept silent out of shame and didn't know what to do. "My father told me not to tell mom because, if I did, they would divorce and our family would break apart," she was quoted as telling prosecutors. Ji-yeon summoned her courage and posted her story on line, prompting police investigations. Her father was arrested early this month and Ji-yeon was sent to a public shelter.
It's hard to know exactly how many rapes by family members occur every year. The actual number can be twice as many as reported or can be far more than that. Experts call for a preventive measure against this elusive crime by stiffening the current penalty ― the minimum seven years' imprisonment for raping those aged 16 or under ― to 20 years as in France or life as in Switzerland. Also desirable is to make it possible to penalize them even without the consent of the victims.
Society is outraged by and worries about acts of child abuse which speak to its own imperfections, but as usual dares not to go one layer deeper to confront the even more uncomfortable truth ― rapes of children by their parents.
These cases are even more complicated because those involved ― perpetrator fathers, condoning mothers and raped children ― often conspire to keep silent, which enable the crimes to go on for longer and the damage, psychological and physical, to go deeper.
About 500 cases of rapes by parents have been reported every year. According to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, in 2012, about 466 such cases were reported with 254 arraigned. In 2013, it was 502 for 305; in 2014, 564 for 276; in 2015, 520 for 252 and by June this year, it was 232 for 114.
The Seoul Daily, a Korean newspaper, cited one case in its Aug. 14 report about a 14-year-old girl, identified as Ji-yeon, who had been habitually raped by her father since 2009 when she was seven. Her father continued his heinous crime as he realized his daughter kept silent out of shame and didn't know what to do. "My father told me not to tell mom because, if I did, they would divorce and our family would break apart," she was quoted as telling prosecutors. Ji-yeon summoned her courage and posted her story on line, prompting police investigations. Her father was arrested early this month and Ji-yeon was sent to a public shelter.
It's hard to know exactly how many rapes by family members occur every year. The actual number can be twice as many as reported or can be far more than that. Experts call for a preventive measure against this elusive crime by stiffening the current penalty ― the minimum seven years' imprisonment for raping those aged 16 or under ― to 20 years as in France or life as in Switzerland. Also desirable is to make it possible to penalize them even without the consent of the victims.
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