Outrage grows after movie relates rape of disabled innocents
Inhwa School in Gwangju locks its gates to visitors yesterday as the movie “Dogani” creates a public furor over the horrors that took place there. [YONHAP]
A movie called “Dogani,” or “The Crucible” in English, is shocking viewers by its depiction of sexual abuse of students with disabilities - and how the abusive teachers got away with it.
Based on a true story recounted in a bestselling book by female novelist Gong Ji-young, “Dogani” describes the serial rapes of deaf students by the principal and faculty of Inhwa School, a school for the hearing-impaired in Gwangju. The crimes went on for five years from 2000 to 2005.
The movie has focused public attention on the real case. Six school officials and teachers accused of sexual abuse received slaps on the wrists: two were put on probation, two received punishments of one and two years in prison, and the remaining two weren’t punished at all because the statute of limitations had been reached.
And the school continues operating today. One teacher who escaped punishment, who is surnamed Jeon, 45, was reinstated in January 2008.
The public is calling for the school to be shut down and the statute of limitations for sex offenses to be removed.
The horrors at Inhwa School began in 2000, but it was only in June 2005 that they came to the light after one disgusted faculty member got in touch with a counseling center for sexual violence against the disabled in Gwangju. Police and prosecutors launched an investigation. The school’s administration chief, who was surnamed Kim, 62, was accused in November 2005 of raping or sexually harassing six hearing-impaired students aged between seven and 20.
A teacher surnamed Lee, 40, was arrested at the same time on similar charges. Kim was ultimately convicted and sentenced to one year in jail. Lee got two years.
In June 2008, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea referred four more staffers to the police on similar charges, including the school’s principal, who was also surnamed Kim, and a teacher surnamed Park, 63. At his first trial, Kim was sentenced to five years in prison but after a second trial was let off on probation. (He died of pancreatic cancer in July 2009.) Park was also given probation in his second trial.
They were given probation because they had no previous convictions and because they reached financial agreements with the parents of the victims to drop charges.
A staffer in the administration department surnamed Kim, 45, and a teacher surnamed Jeon, 45, were not arrested because the seven years statute of limitations had expired. Jeon returned to teach at the school in January 2008.
Some parents accepted settlement money from the defendants because they were in financial difficulty.
“Some parents of victims were also disabled, and they dropped the charges against the school officials when the offenders placated them,” said Park Chan-dong, chief of the Special Committee of Gwangju Inhwa School Sexual Violence, a local civic group. “It has been six years since this case came to light but it’s still unsolved ... I can’t disband our committee because the school hasn’t kept its promise to compensate the victims or offer counseling.”
After the movie opened last week, public ire over the case has been rising. More than one million people have viewed it, and netizens throughout the country began a signature-seeking campaign online to call for further investigation. So far, 44,000 signatures have been collected. A signature campaign calling for an abolition of the country’s statute of limitation for sex offenses also started on Monday and there were 50,000 signatures collected as of yesterday.
The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education said Tuesday that it is considering transferring the students at Inhwa School to a public special-education school scheduled to open in two years and eventually close down the school.
“If the public school gets established, the fierce debate over Gwangju Inhwa School will abate naturally,” said Kim Dae-jun, spokesman of Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education.
The education office will also reduce the support fund of 1.8 billion won ($1.5 million) that was allocated yearly to Inhwa School. In 2000, there were 100 students attending the school. Following the rapes, the number of students fell to 75 in 2005 and now the school has only 22 students.
The National Police Agency also announced yesterday it will launch a new investigation into the case by forming a special investigation team of 15 investigators, including 10 sex crime investigators. The team will look into whether there has been further sexual violence at the school.
Ruling Grand National Party member Chin Soo-hee, who completed her term as the welfare minister this month, said yesterday she will push ahead with revising the current Social Welfare Workers’ Law, in an attempt to increase transparency in welfare facilities.
By Yoo Ji-ho, Yim Seung-hye [sharon@joongang.co.kr]
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警察 ‘도가니’ 追加 搜査 … 本廳 搜査팀 5名 光州 急派
警察廳에서 直接 指揮
映畫 ‘도가니’의 素材가 된 光州 人和學校 院生 性暴行 事件과 關聯해 警察이 追加 疑惑에 對한 搜査에 着手했다. 映畫에서 始作된 波紋이 트위터 等 소셜네트워크서비스(SNS)를 통해 增幅되면서 搜査로 이어지게 된 것이다.
警察廳은 28日 廳長 直屬의 知能犯罪搜査隊 搜査官 5名을 光州에 急派하고 광주지방경찰청 性暴力 事件 專門搜査官 10名과 함께 特別搜査팀을 꾸렸다고 밝혔다. 特別搜査팀은 ▶加害 敎師들의 追加 性暴行 與否 ▶管轄 行政當局 管理·監督의 適正性 ▶人化學校의 構造的 問題 및 非理 等 세 部分으로 나눠 搜査할 計劃이다. 警察 關係者는 “이미 法院 判決이 난 事件에 對해선 一事不再理(一事不再理·同一한 事件에 對해 거듭 處罰하지 않는다는 原則)에 따라 같은 搜査를 다시 할 수는 없다”며 “그러나 지난해 發生한 院生 間 性暴行 事件 等 人和學校를 둘러싼 새 疑惑들이 많이 있기 때문에 追加 搜査를 하는 것”이라고 說明했다.
警察은 人和學校 側과 警察의 癒着 疑惑, 性暴行 連累者들이 復職한 뒤 追加 犯罪를 저질렀을 可能性, 被害者 側이 合意를 해주는 過程에서 加害者 側의 懷柔·脅迫 與否 等 모든 疑惑에 對해 搜査를 벌일 豫定이다.
정지효 警察廳 刑事課長은 이날 記者會見에서 “이 事件은 매끄럽게 處理되지 못한 側面이 있다”며 “全 國民的인 關心事로 떠오른 만큼 警察廳에서 直接 搜査指揮를 하기로 했다”고 말했다.
敎育科學技術部度 寄宿舍가 設置된 全國 41個 特殊學校에 다니는 障礙學生의 生活 實態를 點檢하기로 했다. 保健福祉部 長官 出身인 한나라당 진수희 議員은 社會福祉事業法 改正案(이른바 ‘도가니 防止法’)을 國會에 내기로 했다. 이 法案에는 福祉財團의 透明性 確保와 族閥 經營 防止, 公益理事 選任 等 法人 任員制度 改善 方案이 담긴다.
이 事件이 大衆의 前面에 浮上한 데는 SNS의 힘이 컸다. 지난 22日 映畫가 開封된 以後 닷새 만에 觀客이 100萬 名을 넘어섰다. 映畫를 보고 憤怒와 衝擊에 휩싸인 觀客들이 트위터와 페이스북 等 SNS에 글을 올렸고 憤怒는 이 글을 接한 市民들로 擴散됐다. 인터넷에서 再調査를 要求하는 네티즌 請願運動에는 5萬4000餘 名이 署名했다. 兒童 性犯罪 公訴時效 廢止를 위한 100萬 名 署名 캠페인도 進行되고 있다.
곽금주 서울大 心理學科 敎授는 “‘도가니’로 觸發된 社會的인 公憤은 不公平과 不條理에 對한 膺懲 心理”라고 說明했다. 최정기 전남대 社會學科 敎授는 “不條理하고 原則 없는 社會에 對한 不滿이 SNS와 結合해 ‘도가니 신드롬’을 만들었다”고 말했다.