They used to call him dad" Cases of sexual abuse of disabled people in care homes shock South Korea
Author, Juna Moon
Designation, BBC Korean
Published 1 minute ago
Reading Time: 10 minutes
"I was very sad inside, so I came to tell my story."
These were Seo Mi-hyeon's first words to the police.
Sio, who suffers from intellectual disability, has difficulty forming long sentences and can only communicate through small words and gestures. But the memories of the abuse meted out to him were clear in his mind.
She was one of three women living in a government care home in South Korea who were sexually assaulted by the care home's director. This case has shocked the entire country and has raised serious questions about the care provided by the government to the disabled.
Earlier this month, a court in Seoul sentenced the director (who is listed as Kim) to 15 years in prison. Kim has appealed against this decision.
The decision comes nearly two years after Seo, 40, first told her mother about the abuse.
We have changed the names of Sio and another victim in this story to protect their identities.
i just endured it
Seo first started living in Saekdongwon, a care home for people with intellectual disabilities, in 2016.
Located in the city of Incheon, this institution is run entirely on government subsidy and still houses about 33 people. However, after this matter came to light, it has been closed.
According to Seo, the abuse began shortly after she moved in, with Kim visiting her at night or early in the morning and raping her.
Speaking through her lawyer Eun-young, Seo said there were no adults present at the care home to whom she could talk about the abuse. He also said that he felt that other employees would not help him. The care home has not yet responded to this allegation.
This was his life for about 10 years. The matter came to light after Sio suffered a head injury in February 2025.
Seo told that this incident happened when Kim tried to sexually assault her. Seo stopped him with her hands, due to which Kim threw the glass at him.
His lawyer told the court that the care home took Sio to the hospital and informed his mother about the incident only after the wound on his head had been stitched.
According to Sio's lawyer, Sio's mother had requested to see the CCTV footage to find out how her daughter got injured, but the care home refused, saying they did not have the authority to release it.
After this, his mother brought Seo home and decided to remove him from that institution. It was only when Seo was told that she would not have to return to that institution that she told her mother about the sexual abuse. The mother later informed the police.
"I felt it was safe to speak out because I was told I would not have to return to Saekdongwon," Seo told the BBC through her lawyer.
When asked how he managed to survive alone for so many years, he said, "I just tolerated it."
After this, the scope of police investigation into Sio's statement was extended to other people living in the care home.
They found at least two other alleged victims, including Lee Mi-na. She said that Kim had also raped her while she was sitting in the toilet.
Earlier this month, a judge found the testimony of all three victims credible.
Kim was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping Lee and Seo. This sentence is five years less than the original sentence sought by prosecutors.
Kim has denied all allegations and has filed an appeal against the decision.
In the case of the third victim, Kim was found guilty of a less serious charge of sexual violence.
In this third case, the judge said the rape charge against Kim was dropped because he found no conclusive evidence that 'force or threats were used that rendered the victim incapable of resistance.'
A joint response committee composed of disability rights groups and other citizen groups has criticized the decision. He says that a victim's ability to resist the attack should not affect the court's decision.
The committee also criticized the investigation process. He said the investigation had failed to identify any further potential victims at the care home.
In November last year, following initial allegations of abuse, local authorities in Ganghwa County appointed a team from Woosuk University to conduct a thorough assessment of the residents of Saekdongwon.
This report was presented as evidence in the court. The report said that it was possible that at least 10 more people may have been sexually assaulted in the care home.
But during the hearing of the case the court did not pay any attention to this conclusion.
According to local media reports, police struggled to gather information about the alleged abuse while interviewing care home residents, as most of them were severely disabled. He had difficulty in talking.
Some residents reportedly gave 'disjointed' answers to questions or did not respond at all.
Kim has not responded to allegations that he may have sexually assaulted other residents at the care home.
Professor Jeon Ji-soo, who led the Woosuk research team, told the BBC that investigators "only accepted statements from people who could describe the abuse in complete sentences."
But activists said this reliance on oral testimony meant police failed to identify residents who had more difficulty communicating as victims.
Baek In-seong of Hansahoe, a counseling center for disabled sexual violence victims, said, "If victims express their experiences differently than we expect, shouldn't the government try harder to make their voices heard?"
Police have said that 'there may be shortcomings in some cases, but because of this the entire investigation should not be considered wrong'.
Human rights groups have also criticized others who have called for leniency for Kim.
Before the verdict, a total of 13 petitions were filed in the court pleading for leniency.
One of these petitions was from a social welfare organization. In this petition, the court was requested to take into account "the work done by the accused for the welfare of the people".
Gyol, a group working for welfare organisations, condemned the petitioner organisations, saying, "Prior service in the welfare sector does not exempt anyone from accountability."
The judge's decision convicting Kim said his crime was "particularly reprehensible".
The court said that "despite his professional duty to prevent abuse, protecting and supporting the rights and interests of his victims, he took advantage of the 'imbalance of power' with his victims to satisfy his sexual desires".
Public scrutiny and protests
This case has shocked many people in South Korea and raised questions about why such abuse was not stopped from the beginning.
What is even more shocking is that this incident occurred despite steps taken in 2011 to strengthen laws to protect people with disabilities from sexual harassment.
The same year, the fictional film 'Dogani', based on a true incident of sexual abuse at a school for deaf children, premiered. Amidst strong public criticism and protests, the school concerned was closed and strict laws were subsequently passed.
These included more specific categories of sexual offenses against disabled people, tougher penalties for crimes committed by directors and staff of care homes and the removal of time limits for some rape cases involving disabled victims.
But in the case of Saekdongwon, abuses continued despite regular inspections by Ganghwa County, the local authority responsible for oversight there.
A county official told the BBC that such monitoring focuses mainly on paperwork. Under this, residents are interviewed only when specific issues come to the fore.
The official said an external monitoring team was also sent, but received no reports from the staff, and expressed regret that officials did not investigate the situation more closely.
Jo Ha, a representative of the National Council of a counseling center, has supported some of the victims of Saekdongwon. He said some families he spoke to suspected abuse but felt unable to raise their concerns.
Leaving a facility means that the family must assume all care responsibilities themselves, as alternative arrangements are difficult to find.
The National Parents Association conducted a survey of people living in residential facilities for persons with disabilities.
According to this, almost 6 out of 10 people who received a place in a residential facility had to wait at least three years, highlighting the difficulty of accessing appropriate care.
Professor Kim Yoon-tae is the head of the Institute of Cognitive Science at Woosuk University.
Professor Kim explains that such facilities exert a great deal of control over the activities of care home residents, from what they eat to where they sleep, their access to healthcare and even whether they are allowed to go out.
Although Saekdongwon is "a landmark case" because of the scale and duration of the abuse, it is also not an isolated incident, Jo added.
In 2023, an appeals court upheld an eight-year prison sentence for an employee who had raped or sexually assaulted two women with intellectual disabilities at a facility in Yeongcheon the previous year.
In a separate case in Anseong, a care home worker was recently sentenced to six years in prison in 2022 for repeatedly raping a disabled female resident.
Jo said, "Violence against women with disabilities is not an individual problem. It is structural violence, arising from interconnected layers of gender, disability, institutionalization, poverty and social isolation."
'We want to live in peace'
Since the incident came to light, the Prime Minister of South Korea has ordered the formation of an intergovernmental response team, calling the incident "a serious matter that calls into question the very reason for the state's existence."
In April, the government said it had inspected 1,507 residential centers for persons with disabilities across the country and found 33 suspected cases of abuse. So far, investigation has been initiated in eight of these cases.
The government also said it would strengthen targeted inspections based on risk factors, as well as joint inspections involving local authorities, police and disability rights advocacy agencies.
Saekdongwon has filed an administrative lawsuit challenging the revocation of its license. The company has not commented on Kim being found guilty.
When Seo was asked what has changed the most since leaving Saekdongwon, she said, "I just feel at peace. I'm happy every day."
She also said that the best part was that she could eat and sleep whenever she wanted.
Now her biggest wish was to "completely break relations with the director and never have anything to do with him again".
But, Seo added, people with disabilities still need a place where they can feel safe.
Seo said, "I hope that there can be a place where there is no sexual violence, where people with disabilities like us can live in peace."
We used AI to translate this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked this translation before publication. Learn more about how we're using AI.
