A serious case of sexual abuse has been uncovered in South Korea, where a director of a care center, identified by the surname Kim, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping several disabled women who lived in the facility. The case became public after a complaint by one of the victims, a mentally disabled woman identified as Seo, filed a complaint in 2025. Seo, now in her 40s, had been transferred to the Saekdongwon Center in 2016.
According to her testimony, the abuse started shortly after the transfer. Kim allegedly went to her room at night or in the early hours of the morning and raped her. The woman stated that due to the circumstances and limitations in communication, she had not previously found a person to whom she could turn. The case came to light after Seo suffered a head injury and decided to tell her mother about the abuse. Then she also spoke to the police. Due to her disability, she communicates mainly through short phrases and gestures and finds it difficult to formulate long sentences.
Through her lawyer, Seo told the BBC that she hoped that after the complaint she would not be forced to return to the institution and would be able to live in an environment free of sexual violence. The Saekdongwon investigation also led to two other women claiming to have been sexually abused by Kim. One of them, Lee Mi-Na, stated that she was raped by the director while in the bathroom. The court assessed the testimonies of the three women as reliable. Meanwhile, the investigation data suggest that the number of women who may have been abused in the institution may go up to 10.
The case has brought back into focus the issue of protecting people with disabilities in care institutions in South Korea. Although the country has laws since 2011 for the protection of persons with disabilities from sexual assaults, the authorities have identified other suspected cases.
After investigations into 1,507 care facilities across the country, 33 suspected cases of abuse were identified, while eight of them remain under investigation. A survivor support counselor described violence against women with disabilities as a structural problem, linked to factors such as gender, disability, institutionalization, poverty and social isolation.
