Failed by the System: South Korea’s Battle with Dating Violence

With the recent murders and assaults between couples in South Korea, dating violence in the country continues unabated. However, it has been reported that less than 2% of perpetrators of dating violence were arrested from January to April this year.

Dating violence refers to threats or violence that occur between intimate partners. The violence includes but is not limited to physical acts of aggression, but also psychological pressure and verbal abuse to gain dominance in the relationship.

According to the police, nearly 4,400 people were arrested for dating violence by April of this year. Data submitted to Representative Kim Mi Ae (People Power Party) from the National Police Agency shows that there were 25,967 reported cases of dating violence over the first four months of this year. Of these, 4,395 people were arrested, which is about one-fifth of the total.

With the release of these statistics, attention is once again drawn to a case where a victim of dating violence, who had reported the abuse 12 times, ultimately died without receiving help. The victim was brutally assaulted by her ex-boyfriend and died ten days later.

According to the victim’s mother, the victim had called her during the incident, pleading, “Mom, come quickly. Kim (the perpetrator) has hit me.” She was seeking help from her mother after the horrific assault.

It has been reported that the victim had reported the perpetrator’s assaults to the police a total of 12 times since 2022. The assaults were not isolated incidents. According to KBS reports, the police at the time dismissed the case as mutual assault or a minor quarrel. Netizens have expressed regret, suggesting that if the perpetrator had been punished even once among the 12 reports, the victim might not have lost her life.

Regarding this case, attorney Lee Eun Ui, who specializes in sexual violence cases, said, “There is a concern that the perpetrators might learn that a few hits won’t result in severe punishment. Our society does not impose appropriate sentences on dating violence offenders.”

If reports do not lead to effective regulation of the harm, perpetrators can learn from previous precedents. An analysis of court cases over the past two years by a media outlet showed “the victim and the perpetrator reached an agreement smoothly,” “the perpetrator is reflecting on the incident were considered,” and “attention deficit disorder was recognized as diminished capacity” as common judgments and perpetrators received fines or suspended sentences.

Only those who had previous convictions or committed serious crimes like murder received prison sentences.

With the frequent occurrence of serious crimes between couples recently, there are calls for an expansion of the legal basis for handling dating violence cases. Among the types of dating violence reported by the National Police Agency, assault and injury were the most common, with 3,600 cases. This was followed by 404 cases of confinement and threats, and 146 cases of sexual violence. A total of 839 people were arrested for minor and other crimes.

In particular, only 82 of the suspects arrested by the police this year were detained, accounting for 1.87% of the total. The number of victims of dating violence has been increasing steadily since 2021.

According to statistics over the past five years, the number of victims of dating violence has been increasing annually by 1,000 to 2,000 perpetrators. There were 15,380 in 2021, 12,828 in 2022, and 13,939 in 2023, respectively, after a decrease from 2019 to 2020.

However, concerns continue to be raised after it was revealed that the rate of detention is decreasing. According to statistics over the past five years, of the total 56,079 suspects arrested by the police, only 1,242 were detained, accounting for 2.21%. This rate is higher than this year’s detention rate of 1.87%.

In response, Kim said, “The investigative authorities need to introduce appropriate preventive measures, such as emergency and provisional measures in the investigative agencies and courts before dating violence expands into serious crimes. They also need to actively protect the victims.”