2-(2) GOV’T ORDERED TO COMPENSATE CHILD RAPE VICTIM (나영이/조두순사건)

Article (1): http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/10/117_97383.html

Date: November 10, 2011

Summary: This article is about judgments on one of the worst rapists surnamed Cho. He was sentenced to 12 years behind the bars as his intoxicated state was taken into account by the court. On the top of that the appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court ordered Cho to pay 13 million won in compensation to the victim for the physical and mental distresses. And Na-young’s parents, the young girl who was raped brutally, filed the damage suit against the local government, demanding 30 million won in compensation for the prosecution’s brutal handling of the rape victim case.

Regarding this tragic incident, there were/are three big aspects to look at; [1] light punishment on one of the worst rapist in the world [2] prosecution’s inexperienced handling of the case which agonized already exhausted young girl [3] the rumor that Cho is exercising in the prison in preparation for the revenge on the girl. In this posting I am going to put focus on [1] and briefly mention about what the prosecution’s wrongdoing was, which is [2], in the explanation of the story.

More detailed story about the case: on December 11, 2008 at about 8:30 in the morning Na-young was kidnapped by a 57 years old man to the church near her school. He was under the influence of alcohol when he abducted her. 1. He first beat and strangled Na-young to make it easy for him to force himself on her. He punched her face and stomach when she refused to take off her clothes, and then strangled her neck to make her pass out. When that was no successful, he held her head under the water of toilet seat until she does pass out. However, revealed by Na-young’s statements, she was conscious up till this point. 2. He then violently raped and sexually tortured Na-young. When she fell unconscious he held her against the closed toilet seat cover then had penetrative intercourse. He then performed the same action near Na-young’s right ear which caused her head and ear to be crushed against the water tank, dislocating her right shoulder badly. 3. Then he tried to destroy the evidence by cleaning her inside out of his semen. He pushed her face down in the toilet again to wash her ear and used a pump for blocked toilets on her anus to extract his semen. As a result, Na-young’s anal sphincter got totally damaged, causing her large intestine to gush out of her body. First he tried to push the organs back inside her using the stick of the pump, damaging her genital organs completely. He then flushed her blood and traces of organs down the toilet. 4. He made her sit up so that the organs can stay in and then decided to have another intercourse. After satisfactions he ran away, leaving Na-young alone in the toilet to die. Now she has to live with no rectum, large intestine etc and part of the remaining small intestine attached beside her belly bottom. Furthermore, she has to live with a bag attached to her bladder.

To briefly mention about the prosecutions’ amateurishness on this tragic and sensitive case, investigators forced Na-young into questioning soon after she emerged from major surgical operations. During the hours-long, extended interrogation, Na-young was force to sit at an uncomfortable angle in a chair. And she was forced to answer the same questions four times due to the prosecutors’ inexperience with the electronic equipment used to videotape her answers. Considering Na-young’s physical and mental status at that time, prosecutions’ actions were being inappropriate and inconsiderate toward the young victim, possibly aggravating her pain.

(FOR MORE PICTURES, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN. I HAVE ADDED THEM BELOW AS THEY ARE TOO PAINFUL TO SEE..)

Opinion: Would you say the justice is served with 12 year sentence in this unforgiving and horrifying crime? Judges have taken into account the fact that the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. So although he could have been sentenced with sentenced with 25 years of imprisonment, his punishment was lessened. This is the case and the sentence that shows South Korea’s law is on the suspects’ side rather than the victims. The judges have considered Cho’s status but not Na-young’s future. As I mentioned above, Na-young has to live with a bag attached to her stomach for the rest of her life. She would not be able to swim in the ocean due to possibility of infection and has to live with the burden of bothering about the bag. Na-young can’t bear her own child because it is impossible for her to get pregnant, not to mention about the traumas and fears Na-young suffer from. Regarding drunken people as a feeble-minded person and commuting a penalty should not exist at all and our law changed according to it. However, if possible, I hope Na-young’s case can be re-examined before the prescription of a public prosecution ends because I seriously doubt Cho was intoxicated enough to be considered as feeble-minded during the incident. To mention about few reasons, he was too organized. He dragged Na-young to an inlet church where nobody could find them. And he tried to make her pass out and then rape, even attempting to clear the evidence.

Furthermore, Na-young was only 9 years old when the incident happened and Cho was sentenced with 12 years imprisonment. Everyone knows what it means. It means she will be in her early 20s when Cho is released. The rapist even appealed in the court for the prison term in the past, saying it is too long. This proves he did not penitent for his brutality. I think once someone abuses other person’s human rights and cause harm, that person lost the chance to speak for one’s rights. Cho not only brutally invaded Na-young’s rights but also left indelible traumas. In my opinion he even attempted to kill her because he left her in the toilet in that condition. I can’t understand how he could think about things like cleaning the evidence and seeking for secretive place and didn’t come to the mind that she could die after all he did to her. So this is the case where CAPITAL PUNISHMENT should be sentenced and actually carried out. Suspending capital punishment due to the issue of human rights is unacceptable.

Related Links:

(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dwA-OkdGo4 This is an official trailer of a movie ‘Hope”, which is ‘소원’ in Korean. This film is based on a true story, the infamous Na-young case in 2008. The movie was published on October 2, 2013 and the running time of this movie is 122 minutes. Although the running time is a bit long, I recommend you guys to watch movie as this movie helps the audience to understand the feeling of a young girl Na-young better. How scared and painful she was and she would as a result of the incident. Also, after watching this movie I could actually sympathize with the victims’ parents, feeling the anger they felt when the perpetrator was sentenced with a light punishment.

(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O-SqNAGjqA Short video on the case.

Vocabulary/ Expressions:

(1) Leniency [NOUN] mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant/ lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or parents etc

• Synonyms: mildness, lenity, indulgence
• Antonyms: intolerant, severe
• Korean Equivalent: 관대, 관용, 너그러움, 자비(로움)
• Personal Sentence: The judge treated the rapist surnamed Cho with leniency which outraged the public

(2) Ovary [NOUN] a woman’s ovaries are the two organs in her body that produce eggs

• Korean Equivalent: 난소
• Personal Sentence: She had an operation for the removal of an ovary because she had a cancer in the ovary