It's unfair, let alone self-reflection, after having a 父 abortion after sexually assaulting her biological daughter for 10 years?

[YTN Radio lawyer Lee Won-hwa's case X file]

■ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (06:40~06:55, 12:40~12:55, 19:40~19:55)
■ Broadcast Date: October 10, 2024 (Thursday)
■ Host: Lawyer Lee Won-hwa
■ Dialogue: Attorney Lee Seo-yeon

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

◆ Lawyer Lee Won-hwa (hereinafter referred to as Lee Won-hwa): Have you ever complained that this is really unfair? If you look it up in advance, it's unfair. It means that you are angry and frustrated that you are scolded or punished without doing anything wrong. And here's a man who complains of unfairness. What on earth was so unfair about him? Let's listen to it. The father, who was worse than the beast who caused him to get pregnant and have an abortion due to sexual assault against his own daughter, said he was unfair because he should have kept it a secret, rather than reflecting on his crime even after it was discovered. You may wonder what's going on in the world, but what's really terrible is that sexual assaults by relatives, especially their biological fathers, are constantly popping up. Why on earth is that? Is there any way to stop it? Let's talk about this in detail in today's Case X file. Hello, I'm Lee Won-hwa's case X file. Today, we are also with lawyer Lee Seo-yeon of Law Firm Roel. Welcome, lawyer.

◇Lawyer Lee Seo-yeon (hereinafter referred to as Lee Seo-yeon): Hello, I'm lawyer Lee Seo-yeon of LOEL Law Firm.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I saw this case and even looked it up again to see if I saw it properly or if it was a typo. If you listen to this song, you might think that what I heard is really right. A father who sexually assaulted his own daughter more than 200 times. Lawyer, 200 times? Is this true?

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, it's surprising, but it's true. Mr. A sexually assaulted his second daughter more than 200 times at home for about 10 years from September 2012 to May 2012, and attempted to rape his eldest daughter, but failed due to strong resistance. It was found that A even threatened to touch her sister if her second daughter rebelled, saying she would touch her sister if you didn't.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I wonder what that's going to say to my daughter, she's even pregnant.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, that's right. Due to Mr. A's crime, his second daughter became pregnant and had an abortion at a young age.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I'm careful, but was your mother there?

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Mr. A had been raising two daughters alone since he divorced his wife in 2022. The court also asked Mr. A why he had to bring the victims when he divorced. In response, Mr. A replied to the effect that it would be better to live with his biological father, saying that he brought his daughters because they lived with their stepfather.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: It's a prejudice that just because you're a stepfather, your children can be damaged. And in this case, I wonder if the stepfather would have been much better than the biological father, but what happened to the discovery?

◇Lee Seo-yeon: A's crime was discovered when her two daughters gathered their courage to inform their mother of the damage in early 2021. It is known that the damage has been written in the daughters' diary, making the surroundings even more sad.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: It's late, but I'm glad that I can bring it to justice now, but I heard that this father said and did something that would make his mouth water when he heard his crime even after it was discovered.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Even after the crime was revealed to the world, Mr. A continued to make excuses rather than reflecting on himself. He even decided to keep it a secret, but he showed no sense of guilt or shame at all, such as feeling unfair because his daughters told someone else about the crime, or asking his eldest daughter to send him a 2.5 million won lease deposit while in prison.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I think it's a waste of this word, too. But it would have been put on trial anyway.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, Mr. A was arrested and handed over to trial on charges of injury such as rape and violation of the Special Cases Act by punishment of sexual violence crimes. The prosecution asked A to serve life in prison. During the trial, A's lawyer said that the defendant confessed his crime because he did not remember the crime because it was too long ago, but he thought that his two daughters could not have lied, and appealed for leniency on the grounds that the defendant was not in good health enough to require dialysis more than three times a week. Mr. A also said that he/she cried while saying that he/she was wrong during his/her final statement.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: How can you not remember if you don't remember after committing more than 200 crimes in 10 years? It doesn't make sense. I think it's hard to hear whether you're truly reflecting on yourself.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, that's right. Considering that, the court also sentenced A to 30 years in prison, 10 years of employment restrictions such as welfare facilities for children, teenagers and the disabled, and five years after he was released from prison, saying that A, who is obligated to protect the victims, used the victims as a means to relieve their sexual desires and destroyed the value of the family with crimes against humanity.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: 30 years in prison and 10 years of employment restrictions, this seems to be a reasonable result, but I requested an electronic anklet attachment. This electronic anklet isn't attached. Why was it dismissed?

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Considering that A's victims of sexual crimes are limited to two daughters, the court seems to have rejected the request for attaching an electronic anklet requested by the prosecution, considering that it is unlikely that A will commit sexual crimes again to an unspecified number of daughters.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: That's right. In fact, the purpose of electronic anklets is to prevent them from committing other crimes rather than the meaning of punishment.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: The purpose of preventing recidivism is large.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: So I don't think it's difficult to accept the judgment of the court. But the problem is. This is not a really rare case. Sexual assault by relatives, especially by their biological father, at first glance, this is not the same case, I actually did the same. While looking up this case, I thought I saw this, but I'm not. It's a little different. Some say they've done it for 7 years, some for 10 years, and there are 200 cases, and there are other cases, and isn't it the same case? There are so many cases that resemble decalcomani.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, that's right. In 2017, it was revealed that the biological father sexually assaulted two of his biological daughters for years, had them undergo an abortion when their daughter became pregnant, and then sexually assaulted them again, causing social resentment.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: 2017 is not that long ago either. Then it's really shocking whether it's a crime that can happen in the 21st century. The sentence is, of course, the discretion of the court. There were also shocking incidents where anyone could see it coming out ridiculously low.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: In fact, in 2013, it was pointed out that the father, who had sexually assaulted his biological daughter for eight years from middle school to adulthood, was sentenced to five years in prison, which led to an abortion, and it was pointed out that it was a soft punishment.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I wonder how this came out to be 5 years. Of course, in 2013, it's already about 10 years ago, so I think the sentencing criteria may have been a little different from now, but if you look at the sentencing criteria anyway. If you're pregnant, isn't it a special weighting factor? But how did this ruling come about?

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: In the case of sexual assault, imprisonment can be sentenced from a minimum of 3 years and 6 months to a maximum of 22 years and 6 months. However, the sentence for rape by relatives is from 5 to 8 years. In this case, the court appears to have sentenced her daughter to five years in prison, the minimum sentence in the court, considering that the victim's daughter dropped the complaint and did not want punishment instead of including her history of pregnancy in the weighting factor.

◆ Won-Won-Won: But because this is a family, unlike the previous case, there must be cases where there are mothers or other family members who are forced to express their intention to punish them or drop the charges. I wonder if you have considered all of these in detail.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Yes, this is not the first time that a legal standard that is difficult to understand in common sense of kinship sexual assault crimes has been applied. In 2010, the prosecution was found to have charged her with sexual purchase, not rape, against her father, who sexually assaulted her biological daughter for five years and even had an abortion.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I think this is really upsetting.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: Initially, the police tried to charge all of the 22 sexual assault cases with kinship rape, but the prosecutor in charge ordered the reinvestigation, saying that the sex was paid for pocket money and constituted a sex purchase instead of rape, based on the 20,000 won he gave to his daughter every time her father sexually assaulted her.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: Actually, I don't understand that they charged them with sex just because they had a price to pay. In order for both sides to be found guilty of prostitution or prostitution, there is no possibility that the victim acted like that to receive 20,000 won in pocket money against his father.

◇ Lee Seo-yeon: As you said in the process of making an unconventional decision for the convenience of the investigative agency, the victim, who confessed the damage and sought help from the investigative agency, had to suffer additional damage in order to earn only 20,000 won, being regarded as an immoral daughter who had sex with her biological father. It's a real pity.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: The law needs to be changed. Of course, the law is not universal, but the need for a change in the law seems to be constantly coming out. In particular, some people say why they don't report right away when they are sexually assaulted by relatives, but in fact, it is very difficult for victims to report. Of course, that's inevitable.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: Sexual crimes between relatives often happen at home and cannot be easily recognized by people around them. Due to the nature of the perpetrator being a family member, there are many cases in which victims cannot report. It is said that the victim does not even recognize the damage immediately.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: That's right. You just pointed it out. There are many cases where the perpetrator has not been reported due to the nature of being a family member. The reason for this is that there are phrases that the court always specifies in these cases of sexual crimes between relatives. The person who was supposed to protect rather acted in harm's way. This victim is both the perpetrator and my guardian. So, of course, it's hard to reveal the damage. And as you said lastly, you don't immediately recognize the damage. Because I'm young, I'm often exposed to sexual violence for a long time from an age when I'm not aware of whether I should do this or not, so it's inevitably difficult to report. I wonder how there is such a system to monitor this.

◇Lee Seo-yeon: The National Assembly also recognized this seriousness and proposed a bill revision. Around July this year, an amendment to the Sexual Violence Punishment Act was proposed to extend the statute of limitations for nepotistic sex crimes, which is now 10 years, to 20 years. Institutions related to sex crime counseling argue that there is a need for a bill to exclude the statute of limitations for sexual violence crimes against relatives.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: That's right. Even after the victim becomes an adult, it is difficult to actually report. Because adults are 19 or 20 years old, and even if they reach that age, they are not in a situation where they can become independent from their parents immediately, so even if it is difficult to exclude the statute of limitations, it seems clear that it is necessary to extend it for a long time. Case X File Today, we looked at the case of sexual assault by relatives who sexually assaulted their biological daughter for 10 years and became pregnant and had an abortion. Severe punishment for the perpetrator will be natural. Above all, I hope that support for the unfortunate victims who have lost the meaning of their families who have lost their power to resist will be provided more closely and in detail. That's all we've prepared. You all deserve to be defended. Incident X file, thank you everyone.