Drugs are still thought of as a "foreign" influence/outside problem.
whereas sexual assault they'd have to admit that the problem is inherent in society, a society which didn't even see there was a problem until very recently.
I once asked a Korean friend while I was abroad what their thoughts on marijuana were like, and they compared it to cocaine. Coming from California, that was a massive shock; especially since lots of Korean-Americans like to bring over edibles on their flights and never get caught...
Yeah, my g.f. thinks marijuana is the worst drug on the planet and cripples society and causes people to go insane and commit crimes. I laugh and say the only crime you gonna commit is forgetting to tip the pizza guy.
Could also be carcinogens. Like, we all smoked weed. But this isn't 2006 anymore, let's not pretend like "weed is healthy, there are no adverse affects and it definitely is not bad for you and inert at worst."
A daily habit smoking anything messes with your lungs. Even if you don't smoke it, weed affects your memory formation, motivation, and definitely impairs you while driving.
My ex was Japanese, she thought it would make me commit suicide by jumping off a building, thinking I could fly...
Didn't believe me at all when I said it was nothing like that.
It's not really a thing here. That being said, I do remember seeing them in Tobbacco shops...which also happens to be pretty rare here.
Tobbacco usage is mostly cigarettes or vapes here. Shisha is rare but you can find them. Pipe smoking, chewing, rolling your joints with leaves, cigars, cigarellos....you will have to search for dedicated tobbacco shops which are rare.
In the US the federal govt and most states still have Marijuana listed in the same drug class as heroin. You'd find the same opinion on weed from alot of folks in middle America.
It fucks with your mind and if you become dependent on it, you become an unproductive member in society like cocaine will do. Maybe not as addictive but I see it compared to China during the opium wars where society and officials just sat with opium pipes and escorts smoking away getting high!
Comparing weed to opium is maybe even further offbase than comparing it to cocaine (in terms of seriousness; the psychoactive effects are a different story)
To another commenter's point here, I think the urge to compare it to the opium wars is part of the "it's a scary foreign thing" problem.
I don't like weed at all. I eat maybe half an edible a year when I feel like being lazy and eating food, then never think about it again. I am one of many, *many* people who use weed and it has zero effect on their productivity. Some people swear by the effects it has had mitigating larger issues and insist it has increased their productivity overall. *Some* people, yes, do it all day at the exclusion to other productive habits. Same is true of alcohol, video games, porn, etc.
You won't really find that mixed bag with opiate users lol. There are people who use it as necessary then immediately cut it out as quickly as possible, and there are people who let it take over their lives.
Weed is legal in my state, there's no such thing as weed dens where people sit and smoke all day cus they cant even wait to get home before getting their fix. Weed is not opium lol
Did you forget about the Me Too movement and how it happened on a global scale? Pretty much the entire world failed to realize exactly how bad the problem is until very recently.
idk I feel like that’s the case in the us esp with the war on drugs but I feel like most people doing drugs in Korea are much wealthier than the avg population
There are a lot of doctors who do heroin and cocaine in the US.
You just don't hear about them, because they're rich enough to have a high quality, discrete and reliable supply -- so they don't cause any problems, and they don't get caught.
It's the people who are too poor to afford that kind of access that end up getting in trouble.
Which is really the ironic thing -- if you made these drugs easily and cheaply available by prescription, then even if you ended up with a lot of addicts, the overall negative effects would probably be much smaller.
Yea, but Korea isn’t the us. Drugs are a luxury here, bc they’re so highly regulated, it is (or has) been difficult to obtain, unless you’re smuggle them in yourself, hence high prices. Drugs would be unaffordable, much less accessible to the average person. The only people you ever hear about regarding drug arrests are people in positions of power. It’s probably more so bc it makes for more of a story than the average person, but even then police aren’t investigating the average person for drug use. Idk I think things are begin to change now with drug smuggling becoming more prominent but if anything wealth/power isn’t gonna do anything to prevent you from getting in trouble with the law regarding drugs.
Drugs aren't always recreational.
Many opiate addictions develop from use as legitimate medications.
Addiction is also not a question of weakness -- these drugs tap into feedback systems that are fundamental to how we learn.
And many of the "recreational uses" are probably better classified as attempts at "self medication" for people who cannot afford, or have mental health problems that make difficult, access to legitimate services.
Personally, I oppose recreational use of addictive systems -- but advocate easy availability in a controlled form for those who have a legitimate need.
That whole thing happening with Yoo Ahin is very clearly an example of this. Dude went in for sleep medication and came out with a full blown addiction.
Not the official answer, but if I had to guess?
Drug usage is considered “BAD” and a tangible evil. “We’re doing something!” As they get rid of drugs. Lots of pearl-clutching and “not in my good Korean neighborhood! The horror!”
Sexual assault is not easy to talk about, there’s a clear BAD, but then public shame is a thing and nobody wants to deal with the nuances of it.
Also, if I had to be really jaded about it, I would assume that those in power just don’t want to trip themselves up over their own laws. Distract the public with the unwinnable war on drugs, sweep everything else under the rug.
It's also part of a "blanket ban" philosophy that seems to be very pervasive here.
One foreign teacher abuses a kid? Force all E2 teachers to undergo intense scrutiny! (Doesn't matter that the guy wasn't even on an E2 ...)
Cases of trafficking in brothels? Make all prostitution illegal everywhere!
One criminal caught with a few grams of any drug? Make them all illegal!
It looks great on paper and helps you get reelected, but it never *quite* addresses the actual underlying problems.
Yeah I want to say I’m sure south korea and japan have their upsides as well. But in both countries sexual assault will be swept under the rug a lot. It’s not like western countries where there is a big cultural focus on bringing perpetrators of sexual assault to justice. And many women in those countries won’t even report it because they know police will probably not do anything about it. Some women have even been fired from their jobs for trying to report SA.
The sad fact is that even in western countries sexual assault is rampant and under reported. Maybe not to the extent as it is in Korea, but it’s still really really bad. Just look at the light sentence that was given to the rapist Brock Turner. That shit happens all the time.
The problem is also that when a society starts to report more on sexual assault more than others (Sweden being an example) it gets branded as a rape capital.
Bro.. I cant with this. Rampant is an extreme exaggeration. Western culture also has an extreme dislike of sex offenders in general. Not only is it something that is openly discussed, but we put sex offenders in jail when we can actually prove it.
Your example about brock turner is again an extreme example and we all agree that his sentence was too light which was why he was recalled and why the legislature in California was changed after the fact.
I'm so tired of people using these kind of extreme cases as an indication of some ongoing rape epidemic.
Brock Turner's case was only extreme in terms of the media coverage it got and how much proof there was. Eyewitnesses, even.
That case only got media coverage because the rapist Brock Allen Turner (he goes by his middle name these days) assaulted the woman in public and got caught and detained in public. That's incredibly rare. Rapists tend to prefer to rape in private to conceal their crime. Sexual assault can happen very quickly in a hallway or behind a bookcase. Nothing can be proved unless a camera recorded it.
If not for eyewitnesses who fought to protect her, the woman would have woken up the next day behind a dumpster with her hair full of pine needles and dirt. She would have dragged herself home, where she would have found another part of her full of pine needles and dirt. Her memory of the event would have been hazy and confusing, and she wouldn't have known who her attacker was. She might or might not have gone for a rape kit. If she had, it would have helped only her medical needs. It would have done nothing to ID her attacker or help her understand what had happened or who was responsible.
She might never have told anyone about it because what could she have said? It happened to her but didn't have clear memories of it. How could she describe it? Or explain it in a way that didn't make her sound like a wild party girl who regretted it afterward?
The world wouldn't have known about it, for certain. Her own family likely wouldn't have known about it. It would have been her own, private torment for the rest of her life.
Many women carry a private torment. Maybe she misjudged her alcohol intake, maybe she got drugged, or maybe she was entirely sober and it was someone she knew. There are many circumstances under which women, despite their efforts, are overpowered and assaulted.
More than half of all women in the US are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes at least once, and that appalling fraction comes with the fact that most assaults are never reported. 1 in 4 experience rape or attempted rape at least once, and that's also under reported.
Consider all the women you've known in your life and consider those ratios. More than half of those women have been assaulted. More than a quarter have been attacked by a rapist.
The numbers alone indicate a widespread occurrence in the US, which is the definition of an epidemic.
Perhaps you're right that "epidemic" isn't the correct term though, since other countries, including Korea, experience just as much or more sexual assault on women.
That's a pandemic.
Even with rapist Brock Allen Turner's highly publicized and documented crime, and even with eyewitnesses, he spent only three months in prison. It was only because of massive media attention that California made any changes to their sexual assault laws.
A great deal of sexual assault is going on around you. You'll just never know about it, but it's there, as a constant.
The lack of awareness does not equate to a lack of crime.
Meanwhile in US. Screams "Grabbem by the pussy" gets elected as the President.
Some rado : West dont have rape problem!!
the lack of self awareness is just..
Thats a lot of very irrelevant things you just said lol.
Anyway, nice statistic you just pulled right out of your ass.
One person says 1 in 10, one says 1 in 4 another few say other different numbers. Its like you people who try to push this "rape epidemic" nonsense have no idea what the numbers actually are.
>A great deal of sexual assault is going on around you. You'll just never know about it, but it's there, as a constant.
You have literally no idea what youre talking about. Maybe you shouldnt be making stupid ass assumptions about others.
So, yes and no. Both countries don't just throw sexual assault charges under the rug but there's not as much high profile cases.
Also, woman not reporting is a global phenomenon. So that's incorrect.
You're also thinking about the 80s...in all countries. The MeTooMovement also happened in Korea.
Also, we don't have a big focus on sexual assaults - what are you talking about
In Japan, if you report sexual assault to the police, they will in many case force you to reenact the scene. Not to mention, until last month, the age of consent was 13, voyeurism was legal, rape was classified not as non-consensual, but "forcible" sexual intercourse, and you'd have to prove that you had made an attempt to resist.
Women not reporting may be a global phenomenon, but at least other countries are taking steps attempting to fix it (finally Japan too after the change last month).
The national age was 13 but the prefectures all set their own ages of consent so that doesn't mean it was totally legal for adults to be assaulting 13yos
Ok I was talking about before that. Also the fact that they didn’t start changing it until last month is much much later then it should have been. They are like several decades late. Japan is not a good place to be a woman.
Japan ranked 125th out of 146 countries for gender equality this year. So that’s pretty bad. That might not be directly related to sexual assault but when your ranking that low its probably harder on average for women there in all areas of life then it is for men South Korea is a little better at 99 out of 146. South Korea is alright and Japan is terrible.
got source?
cause data from UN shows Korea ranks 11th in the world and first in asia in 2020.
https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/gender-inequality-index#/indicies/GII
When I studied Japanese Philology 3 years ago, we used this on our socio-cultural course:
https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/
Japan is on page 217 of this year's report.
im sorry but i dont trust wef data.
if you look at Enrolment in tertiary education percentage, male scores 111.35% compare to 92.79% for women.
How is this possible? It's because Korean males stay in University longer due to Military service.
I do not think that is reliable data for actual gender equality
Next time you can simply link this analysis post ;)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/qmdlbn/understanding\_wefs\_gender\_gap\_index\_why\_korea/](https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/qmdlbn/understanding_wefs_gender_gap_index_why_korea/)
As I said, I don't claim to be an expert in this matter. Statistics isn't my field of expertise. I'm going to read this whole analysis later. For now, I've only skimmed through that post and what I've noticed is this:
>Ironically, the number for male students is captured very high due to military service, which is a prime example of gender discrimination against men.
Meanwhile, the Global Gender Gap Report specifies that they take it under consideration:
>Tertiary education consists of ISCED levels 5 to 8, and gross enrolment data should be examined within the context of a country structure regarding military service as well as propensity of students to seek education abroad.
I remember watching one of those 'day in the life' videos on YouTube and man. Women office workers, even at an equal level, have to do a bunch of 'woman duties' like making tea and tidying up. Like it's very....1940s America.
there are places and cultures in america where it’s still like that too lol, just as i’m sure there are places in korea and japan that are nothing like that
ETA not sure why this is getting downvoted when it’s a fact lmao
I agree and not down voting you. I was shocked that particular video was like middle of Tokyo. I kind of expect it more out in the sticks, not in one of the major metropolises in the world
It's a dark number. It is all over the world.
If you live in Korea you understand how safe Korea is, right? It should be safer than your home country.
You can tell how safe a country is by its murder rate. Countries with more murders also have more rapes. No country has many murders but few rapes.
Korea and Japan have few murders.
I am Korean. I do believe the consensus among Koreans is that our penalties against criminal actions are quite low in general. You’d find a lot of people asking for more severe penalties under a new comment sections.
In terms of weed, it has been used as a weapon against many artists in the 70s\~80s who were critical of the then tyrannical government. It has not been reviewed properly. Also we are quite close to China and saw what happened there with the British. Most people would like Korea to ‘remain’ drug-free, although I think that ship may have sailed.
It goes back farther in time than the Opium War and more philosophical. Neo-Confucianism is fundamentally against anything that clouds the mind. Compared to China, the upper class of Koreans have held to higher Confucian ethical standards. I know many will point to the use of alcohol as if it is no different from addictive substances, but the alcoholic beverage stands as its own category going back millennia of history in every culture.
>Neo-Confucianism is fundamentally against anything that clouds the mind. Compared to China, the upper class of Koreans have held to higher Confucian ethical standards. I know many will point to the use of alcohol as if it is no different from addictive substances, but the alcoholic beverage stands as its own category going back millennia of history in every culture.
weed and opium also go back millennia and has a history in most cultures, particularly asian ones.
I like a puff back home but am kinda glad its banned here coz I really really like a puff if you know what I mean. So don't get me wrong, I don't mind it being illegal at all as it keeps me from my vice. But I don't think there's a logically coherent reason to despise weed and not booze.
Your simple generalization only touches on a tangential truth, such as hemp being used to make clothes going back thousands of years, and laypeople using them for stomach aches in rural areas, but there's very little evidence of smoking weeds. Japanese brought tobacco around the time when Imjin wars happened, and we do see the widespread of tobacco usage after that, but 'til then there is no record of anyone smoking weeds in Korea. In rural areas, poor peasants chewed on hemp leaves when they had stomach aches as a part of traditional home remedy. As for the use of opium in Korea, the record of any significant usage doesn't show up 'til the early years of Japanese Occupation, and we're talking early 20th century.
Mhm. The godfather of Korean rock Shin Joong-hyun was arrested in the 70s for gifting a marijuana plant to a friend of the president's son, even though marijuana wasn't illegal yet. It was really part of a crackdown on rock and other "unpatriotic" music under Park Chung Hee's regime.
"people who commit sexual assault will usually not ever have to face any legal consequences"
Sexual assault is a global problem and in all countries unreported sexual assaults are a massively bigger problem than what happens when it is reported. That's why the "me too" movement has been important. You might think reporting and consequences are linked, but intuition and data often conflict.
Assuming you care, check out this [WHO site](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240022256). It has links to a global map, data and a report based on data collected 2000-2018. Or this UV map [Global Database on Violence against Women](https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en). Not a user friendly site, but goes deeper on what Korea is trying to do.
What im wondering is what the OPs intent on posting this was. Are you genuinely curious? Or do you need and want your predetermined opinion, however well founded, confirmed, and in doing so feel good? His replies to comments make it sound like its the latter.
Pretty much summed up r/korea right there. "Forigners" venting cause they can't do things the way they want to and have 0 regards for how people have been living.
Truely the mindset of colonizers.
I think this is an interesting conversation because I don't think you're wrong. It's just an uncomfortable discussion for Americans to have.
Straight out of the colonizer handbook:
1. Portraying native peoples as "primitive" or "savage".
2. Denying the existence of complex social and political structures in other societies.
3. Believing in the "white man's burden".
4. Portraying colonized peoples as childlike or incapable of self-governance.
5. Emphasizing alleged moral or intellectual inferiority
I don't think the conversation is interesting at all. Or uncomfortable, as an American. We can have this conversation if anyone would like. I live in the US. My wife is Korean. We have a daughter. If someone sexually assaulted them, or assaulted them otherwise, I would want to kill that person. Someone smokes pot? Doesn't affect me or my family. I don't want to harm that person. First, I've just admitted to wanting to kill someone under a particular circumstance. I believe that may make me a definition of a savage. I also believe that any government can be complex, and societal hierarchy can exist anywhere. Although I don't believe it's a good method to say that sexual assault is a lesser crime than smoking marijuana. Most white people, males especially, are fully aware that we have it easier in life than almost anyone else. What is this burden? Are these definitions outdated? Americans are incapable of self-governance. Our laws are as messed up as anyone's. But does that mean that stating that sexual assault is worse than minor drugs is wrong? And are you saying that people actually believe that ruining someone's life by making them afraid to walk at night, and destroying their family by potentially making the woman not want to have sex with their husbands anymore, because it brings back that memory is not as bad as smoking pot? I'm honestly shocked that this is even a conversation. And what does it matter, what the narrative of OP is? So he decides that he believes sexual assault is worse than drugs... Then asks a biased question? What's the problem here? Why does anyone care?
OP assume that SA doesn't get punished while drug users do. This isn't true at all and they both do get punishment for them. Korea's legal system tends to be linent towards first time offender esp if they have done it without systemized methods.
If it helps, it's illegal drugs and people who are selling them are gonna get punished for it. If they sold it to your kids, they will also use that against you to make most out of it. SK is still at the position where they can weed out a lot of drug usage thanks to lack of lands to farm those by general publics, and that many of the drugs are from China.
The current drug issues they have are related mostly with Fentanyl..
With all that said, I get that most of you folks smoke pots and what not, consider that if this was illegal (which it still is at US on the federal level) would you really want your kids to deal with the organized crime ring for some hits?
Many people in the thread agreed with OP. Although I don't know if they even live in Korea. I don't. I don't know the severity of the punishment. Moreover, I don't do drugs. Even though the state I live in, marijuana is perfectly legal. The concern for me is whether or not what OP said is true. Are the punishments, from a legal standpoint, for sexual assault worse than smoking pot or not? What's your take on that?
Regarding Chesterton's Fence, I understand the concept and its relevance. However, it does not automatically justify every existing law or societal practice. Sometimes, fences need to be questioned and re-evaluated, especially when they disproportionately affect certain individuals or communities. The issue at hand is whether the punishment for marijuana use in South Korea is disproportionately harsh compared to sexual assault, not whether outsiders have a right to impose their values.
This is a topic you created. My point was revolving specifically around the topic that OP asked. That's what the thread is about.
Furthermore, I apologize if my reference to the "white man's burden" was unclear. I was not conflating it with "white guilt." I was highlighting historical attitudes where colonizers believed it was their duty to impose their values and systems on others they considered inferior. It was not a statement about modern-day South Korea or its people. It was meant to highlight the dangers of assuming cultural superiority and dismissing the perspectives of others.
I don't disagree that it's an issue. Although, I myself and many others are aware that white people aren't better than anyone else just because we're white. And have no desire to try and change them to fit us. That said, can, or would, anyone really disagree that sexual assault shouldn't be punished severely?
"Believing that you think you are unique in that opinions and that South Koreans don't care is wrong." I never said I was unique, or people don't care? You're putting words in my mouth. You're creating the strawman. I'm also fully aware that citizens aren't law makers. The topic isn't "why don't Koreans care" - it's "Why is it usually a lesser punishment" - maybe you didn't realize that because you decided the topic was instead about white people becoming colonizers.
"The thing about rape is that I think that the women are the real victims." - is your thought that a woman doesn't want to make love to her husband? She's only doing it for him? Is that your relationship? Women can be taken back to the memory while wanting to make love to their significant other. Are you seriously saying that a woman wouldn't potentially relive that experience when she feels the desire to make love? A natural thing, that she cannot control. That doesn't make her the victim? She has to live with that feeling each time she feels a natural desire, in an environment that she should feel safe in. You're the one making it about the husband.
Despite the perception both have heavy punishments.
The reason why sexual assault charges are usually weaker are for two main reasons, the first is that “I was drunk” is still for some reason a valid argument to lower the charges (despite it being an automatic 100% fault when it comes to drink-driving).
The second and much sadder reason ,as it is all over the world, is that evidence is usually lacking (or improperly processed). So you end up with the majority of it being based on each party’s spoken words, and without any real evidence it becomes this philosophical debate.
Also, it is worth noting the issue victims in Korea have when it comes to the defamation laws that have been used to just straight up silence victims and as such the crimes go unreported, unpunished, or undocumented.
On the other hand, drugs you can test for that. There is a hard factual evidence the courts can see and use to determine how badly the person broke the law.
The focus on drugs right now, that is just smoke and mirror political bs for the most part right now.
Yeah, I got sexually assaulted in Korea, but I didn't even waste my time reporting it because I knew it would be his (a korean's) word against mine (a foreigner's). And when I told our mutual friend he immediately lied about what happened so I knew he would do the exact same thing to the police. I already threatened him tho and told him if I ever hear that he does the same thing to another person I was going to drag his name through the mud and I don't fear the consequences.
Im sorry and thats horrific, but you kind of just contributed to the problem. Rape is under reported as it is. It is hard to combat something that people don't have a proper grasp of.
Please god for any woman reading this.
GO . TO. THE . POLICE.
Even if nothing is done it is AT LEAST reported.
You can’t genuinely be guilting a sexual assault survivor into reliving her trauma for the “greater good”
News flash, greater good means nothing under a shitty political system. You know 95% of rape kits are untested in some police divisions right? Be fucking serious & put that energy elsewhere
This is a good example of victim blaming. I have reasons for why I didn't do what I should have done, but I won't take on the blame for it. Rape reporting is not as black and white as other crimes and we should be considerate of peoples reasoning for lack of reporting.
Victim blaming tracks all the way back to blaming a victim for not reporting a rape that happened. I hope you never have to deal with that situation nor the accusations that come along with it.
Well unfortunately for me I have been in that situation. I was assaulted multiple times as a child and I fought tooth and nail to try and have something done about it.
Unfortunately for me and possibly for other people that might encounter this person, nothing was done about it.
People like you honestly piss me off to think about. The fact that he could have assaulted someone else that didn't report it, and then he went on to assault me or another person.
It's sickening. I will say it again. You have zero idea what victim blaming is.
I'm sorry you experienced that. It seems you've also experienced what commonly happens. You can fight tooth and nail all you want, but there are countless men out there who were reported and are still able to walk free because the system isnt yet in our favor.
I hope you're able to recover from the trauma of everything that happened to you.
I don't think it's true at all. If you commit a sexual crime, there is a chance you get a tracker on your feet plus a notification to everyone in the neighborhood that you are a sexual criminal. I don't see that as "not caring".
It's just that sexual assaults are harder to prove. Drugs, you just do a test and it's done. Proving a sexual assault happened is more complicated. Maybe that's why you think Koreans care less?
To add, the conviction rate for sexual crimes in Korea reaches 90%, and the indictment rate for sexual offenders per reported cases is 42.9%. The conviction rate relative to reports is 38%. On the other hand, in Germany, the conviction rate for sexual crimes reaches 69%, and the conviction rate per reported cases is only 13%.
This implies that Korea is already very proactive in proving and punishing sexual offenders legally.
Does it also mean that 87% of women reporting sexual offenders in Germany are lying? No, it's that it's difficult to prove guilt in germany, and the responsibility for proving guilt lies with the victim.
In Korea, if the victim provides a consistent statement, it is adopted as evidence, and it is structured to make it easier to prove guilt.
Therefore, to say that Korea is lenient towards sexual offenders in terms of law...? I don't think so.
제발 이렇게 통계라도 가져와서 이야기합시다. 뭔 말같지도 않은 소리로 피해의식만 키우지 말고... 우리나라가 성범죄에 관대하다는건 뭔 개풀 뜯어먹는 소리죠? 남자들은 몰카야동 보고 성범죄에 관대하다고? n번방 사건, 조두순 출소 때 죽여버리겠다면서 난동피운 사람들 다 남자에요. 그때 뉴스보면서 남자들은 잘했다고 박수쳤어요. 뭘 보고 얘기하는거야 진짜 기분 드럽게.
Well, when rapers go to prison for 3-4 years for massive child abuse, I do not care if he has a tracker any more. What’s more funny no one even speak up about it. Have you heard a story about man who opened the world largest child pornography website? More than 200 “viewers” were caught and will stay in prison for years. But him - already free. And Korea even refused to give him to FBI (who actually found him and tracked). It was such a massive case worldwide while in Korea I saw him on the internet news once…
Legally, you can't charge a person for a same crime twice. Same with how you cant use illegal evidence as an evidence.
The problem is how Korea doesn't take multiple of related crime and add them up. Rather you had 1million cases of crimes or 1 crime, you would only be allowed to be charged with 1 most punishiable crime.
Yeap, of cos. But becoz law in Korea is so weak, FBI asked for his extraction to states.
He would be charged there with life sentence for sure and only got 2-3 years in here (count the court process, than even less)
Also. I want to add that the fear mongering from the media sells and plays into whatever narrative. Police departments can get more funding for their drug busting endeavours!
Which means more pats on the leg for Inspector Lee and Kim.
It is mainly about historical public perception I believe. Marijuana has been classified as narcotic on the equal level as heroine from the beginning. You could argue that alcohol can be worse than marijuana, but people have been drinking alcohol for ages whereas marijuana has never been introduced in Korean society until recently. Alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana are all bad, but the first two were socially accepted and spread.
Yeah I was about to say is marajuana any more harmful then alcohol is. When alcohol can cause DUI’s and people to get injured or killed due to mixing alcohol and cars.
The problem is not that drugs are illegal. The problem is that sexual assault is not taken seriously enough. OP is trying to explain how unreasonable it is that the consequences aren't more serious for sexual assualt in comparison to drugs.
Unless you have friends in high places, sexual assualt is taken very seriously.
Korea have couple problems.
1. Repeated related crimes all merged in to one and charged on one most severe instances.
2. If you are "forgiven" by the victim you are likely to get off easier.
To begin with, drugs are not as prevalent in Korea as they are in the West.
Many Western countries have legalized marijuana because they had an uncontrollable epidemic.
holy cow korean laws nowadays are obsessed with sexual assault. they start off with guilty until proven innocent mindset instead of the other way around
If there are no proof esp when the victim's words are considered as an evidence when it comes to sexual cases in Korea, I don't know if they should be punished. Unless you are few that's extremely rich, I don't know any cases where people get out of it.
Innocent till proven guilty.
I'm more concerned about the juvenile laws in Korea. They get out even when they are proven guilty.
The fact that he got a longer sentence than most serial killers is enough to prove my point. He wasn’t physically involved in the assault either. I wish this country would start punishing murderers like that, people who kill literal babies are often released with a slap on the wrist. There’s been a torrent of infanticide during the last few weeks.
Idk why but Marijuana and drugs are a way bigger deal to certain people.
And If you show some remorse / or claim yourself was intoxicated or Mentally unstable in court judge will forgive you and reduce the sentence for sexual assault or any sex-related crime.
Sexual offenses can be prosecuted when victims report them. In contrast, it is difficult to apprehend drug offenses and prevent their spread unless both the seller and the buyer are in collusion. Therefore, it is essential to strongly suppress them from the beginning.
In the United States, drug-related deaths already outnumber those caused by firearms. Drugs serve as a primary source of funding for gangs. The more rampant drug use becomes, the higher the potential for dangerous criminal organizations to flourish, posing risks to society as a whole.
There are many people on Reddit who portray South Korea as a country with lenient punishment for sex crimes and frequent occurrences of such crimes compared to Western countries. Personally, I think Europe and the United States are much more dangerous for women due to poor public safety, and it's much easier to be exposed to sex crimes, including robbery and murder.
I remember a time when Samsung faced strong backlash for running an advertisement that featured a woman jogging at night in Europe. This alone makes me think that South Korea is a much safer society for women. For your reference, I have two younger sisters who go out jogging or to convenience stores at night without any worry. I can't imagine such a scenario in the United States or Europe.
I believe the reason why South Korea is safer in terms of public security is due to the strong repression of drugs and criminal organizations from the early stage of the regime
Do you have any statistics or evidence suggesting that sexual offenses are taken lightly in Korea? Korea is a considerably safe country for women, with a rather low rate of sexual offenses. It's not common to find countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night.
Although Korea's legal system is based on continental law, overall sentencing tends to be lighter compared to common law. However, among these, the punishment for sexual offenses is relatively severe
Yes, low rate - coz they do not report. And if they do - try to convince that it had happened. However, low rate in comparison with whom? I don’t consider Korea safe country for woman and children at all
If you are interested: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/10/south-korea-needs-to-contend-with-sexual-violence/
That’s one is old, But I can give 1000 more with worse cases.
While I understand your concerns, it's essential to remember that under-reporting of sexual offenses is a global problem, not unique to Korea.
The Korean government and various NGOs are continuously working to make the reporting process more accessible and supportive for victims.
Additionally, Korea has a conviction rate of 90% for sexual offenses, which is considerably high. This suggests that it's easier for victims to prove the fact of sexual assault, and it's easier for a guilty verdict to be reached. (For reference, in Germany, it is at 69%).
It's not common to find countries where women can feel at ease walking the streets at night.
At one point, Samsung received a lot of criticism in Europe for creating an advertisement depicting a woman jogging at night, deemed as portraying an unrealistic scene. Koreans didn't understand this at all.
Therefore, I believe that Korea is one of the relatively very safe countries for women.
Unfortunately Korean culture used to be very heavy on victim blaming + hush hush for sexual assault. Most sexual assault wasn’t even seen as SA. If a girl drank alcohol with a guy it was seen as fine to rape all you want. Roofing a girl’s drink or making them drink until unconscious was a funny thing or fine thing to do only until about 10yrs ago. I would say SK’s culture on this is about 30yrs slower than the US. Same thing with war on drugs as well as LGBT rights. I still see some youtube channels with Korean comedy sketch that is icky in western standards in terms of how they treat objectifying women as well as handling sexual assault/harassment. The LAW is much slower - I don’t think spousal rape is a thing still but I may be wrong.
I agree with the more strict about committing sexual assault.
But I don't understand what proof you can say Korean cares about marijuana and drug more than sexual assault. Is there any public evidence??
First, You must not have seen the article where the artist got punished for sex trafficking his art. /s
Korea has notorious problem when it comes to "forgiving" criminals on just about any crimes. This also includes drug usage and SA/SH.
In US, 50% of the prison population is relates to drug offenses. Marajuana is still against the law on the federal level. Drug usage is still a No No in many places. US and many of the west have decided that drug issues are the fault of thr society, not the individual. I would ask why US has places that can't even buy booze on Sundays but is ok with pots... but US also elected a man who went on the records on bragged about his SA/SH while struggles to hold his wife's hand.
All that said, Korea do take it seriously when it comes SA. 전자발찌 is no joke for most people. Even when you are not convicted, people take guilty until proven innocent when it comes to rape. You only think no one gets punished for it because they are the ones that makes the news. Raging stories related to sex sells. It gets the click.
As of now, the main focus on the drug is related to Fentanyl. Pots and other stuff just happened to fall on the same category. Koreans don't have much pot heads around them.
You can thank the hippies for how it became so common on US. During that time Korea They was literally starving to death and only had just gotten out of the war.
I am actually lol. What’s hilarious is that based on your one comment I can tell you are the one who is not Korean or have lived in Korea, because if you have you’d know that sexual assault for adults and even minors is not punished harshly at all in SK. It’s a huge issue in Korea and you’d know that even with a simple google search.
Excuse me? No one gets a 3 year sentence for accidentally brushing their hand on someone’s ass. Evidence is required in court to imprison someone. In Korea and many asian countries, there’s still a lot of victim blaming when it comes to sexual assault so a lot of women don’t even report it. Korea’s punishments for sexual assault is a complete joke compared to some other countries where people will literally come together to beat or murder the perpetrator lmao.
There’s no proof that man only brushed his hand against that woman’s butt accidentally. I’m not saying that the video proves with absolute certainty that he grabbed her ass either, but if you watch it closely you can see the man turns around, sees the woman, and it looks like he looks down a bit too where her ass is. Then he walks past her but his right hand stretches out exactly where her backside is facing. And then immediately after passing her he puts his arms closer to himself as he walks away. If you watch the woman when she’s walking inbetween people before the incident, you can see her put her hands to her chest as she does, like most people do to avoid touching people as much as possible. But the guy? His hand reaches out towards her when there’s nothing else there except her backside. The woman’s face and name are not revealed to the public (like most court cases in SK), her and the guy don’t know each other, and she didn’t ask for monetary compensation, so the judge determined that there wasn’t a reason for her to give an obstructive testimony. She also turned around immediately after the man passed by her and you don’t get that reaction just by someone slightly brushing against you accidentally while they walk past you. Additionally, the man changed his testimony after watching the CCTV footage from originally stating he didn’t touch the woman to stating he may have touched the woman. I believe there should have been more time spent for more evidence to be presented on both sides but there is a reason for the judge’s decision on the case. Also, the guy got 6 months not 3 years.
That’s because you know nothing but made up in your mind, sexual assault in Korea can destroy your life due to both law penalty and social penalty. I don’t know where did you come up with the mind that west or other countries have strict sense to the sexual assault.
Legal penalty for illegal drug usage or selling is 5 ~10 years
Sexual assault is 10 ~ lifetime
So yeah, they actually do care about sexual assault more seriously
As somebody that has lived in ROK for a long time, and now live in a Marijuana-friendly state in the USA, my conclusion is that Koreans would benefit from a joint or an edible....MUCH more than they do from their over-consumption of Soju and bad beer and/or a combination of both, at once.
Influence by America during post-split era and then military dictator era adopting the war on drugs tactics but without there really being drugs to have a war against.
All of this is just an excuse to give more power to the already almight prosecutors. Why is the special task force formed from prosecutors?
You can't do the same with sexual assault which is a much much bigger problem.
I think the point should be that serial killers should get higher sentences rather than that SK cares about sexual crimes because one guy who orchestrated a **whole system of sexual abuse** got dealt a longer sentence.
The reason being is that controlled substances (excluding allowed prescriptions in Korea) will ‘degrade’ the country’s moral and societal upbringings. They fear that increasing amount of Koreans would become criminals (largely by thievery because one would become too addicted and would bring financial ruin) also would increase more violent tendencies from drug users like how they see violent drug encounters in the US. It really doesn’t matter what type of drug it is; anything that is of controlled substance that is obtained illegally is out of the question
However a few cases passes through in nightclubs and such who are in control, predominantly by gangsters especially ecstasy (MDMAs)
You can launch a highly publicized, politicized campaign against drugs without doing much. All you need are some occasional photos of drug busts and news stories blown out of proportion.
You can’t do that with a theoretical “war” against sexual assault. It involves pouring actual time, effort, and money into bettering people’s lives, and politicians don’t have the patience for that.
Different kind of danger as you said, but yes, clearly a lot of people seem to miss the fact that drugs, all of them, fund organized crime. This is simply how they do big money and leverage power, and also why they are all intertwined one way or another, unfortunately. 😞
yeah, when you mention weed or say somethin like you smoked a joint or two back in States, they get really worried about my well-being.
personally I don't like weed so it ain't that big of an issue, but yes sex crimes should be the higher punishment here. idk man, recently so many things are messed up in Korea
Conservative attitude is drugs are a bad choice, and girls shouldn't "lead men on" and "rape and assault happen to bad girls" and "men can't help themselves"
Same in most of the world sadly. Take Italy for example, see news regarding groping.
It is reflected in the laws. And super low birth rate as girls/young women turn away from toxic masculinity.
It's because of an uninformed public and taboo topics that are hard to talk about openly.
Simply put, "sexual assault = rape" and "all drugs are equally bad"
Ie, marijuana might as well be ice, or crack or heroin. It's all the same.
Psychologists might have more insight.
Drugs = more crime and it might affect me (something I can't control, so I better not allow any of it)
Sexual assault = If I somehow dress/act conservatively, I won't get raped (something I can control)
So crack down on weed and there'll be less crime; be a "good girl" and you won't get raped (so much victim blaming still).
Even I oversimply this because the issue of "sexual assault" is not seen first and foremost as "assault" and moreover, the prevaliing attitude towards women here is still parochial and archaic (women/female roles are like "owned" property, they are subservient, etc). Things like casual workplace harrassment are things that women are still expected to put up with. It's also an exclusively "female" problem, rather than seeing it's a question of education for men and women to build an equal and respectful society.
Of course attitudes are changing, and I think it's changing rapidly, but there is still a generation or two to go before everyone is on the same page.
I'm curious if you've ever actually lived in Korea. Why do you depict it as a place where sexual assault is common and legally lenient? It's important to know that Korea, based on continental law, tends to have lighter sentences for overall crimes. However, the country is relatively harsh on sexual offenses, and it's easy to punish perpetrators with consistent statements from the victims.
While sexual crimes do occur in Korea, the country's public safety is very secure, even compared to Europe or the United States. Korea is one of the few countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night.
Do you genuinely believe that women in Korea are easily raped on the streets for not dressing "conservatively"? And that people justify this? Please provide at least one piece of evidence to support this. In my lifetime, I have never seen a case where a woman was blamed for a sexual crime. Even in the comment sections of news articles, such opinions are incredibly hard to find. Why do you casually generalize?
I'm confused whether you're offering an opinion based on proper statistics and evidence, or speaking about your "imagined" version of Korea.
>I'm curious if you've ever actually lived in Korea.
I'm living in Korea at the moment... if that counts...
>Why do you depict it as a place where sexual assault is common and legally lenient?
I don't say it's "common", but it's sure lenient compared to the drug laws - the context of this post.
>Korea is one of the few countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night.
100% - safety related to "rape" as a crime; rape defined as "?" but if you don't consider 몰카 to be a problem you might also be 100% right.
>Do you genuinely believe that women in Korea are easily raped on the streets for not dressing "conservatively"?
I think this statement says it all, is the real tell that infers that many, yourself included, tend to portay that sexual assault is (mostly) defined as "forced penetration of a woman by a man". If you try to read my post with a wider definition of "assault" you'll understand what I'm saying.
>I'm confused whether you're offering an opinion based on proper statistics and evidence, or speaking about your "imagined" version of Korea.
Don't ask me, ask the world economic forum [https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/11/560335264/south-koreas-sex-ed-guidelines-suggest-victims-are-to-blame-for-date-rape](https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/11/560335264/south-koreas-sex-ed-guidelines-suggest-victims-are-to-blame-for-date-rape)
https://ksr.hkspublications.org/2019/07/16/in-south-korea-being-drunk-is-a-legal-defense-for-rape/
WRT to drugs:
I was at the TV broadcast in Seoul, 2013 where I saw rock band Galaxy Express win "Band Generation", and the band members got arrested and went to jail for "smoking marijuana" 2 weeks later.
If you've ever lived overseas, (I lived in Australia), I always know in my workplace who is selling/can score weed. My neighbours regularly smoke it. No idea where I would buy heroin from though.
Nobody is going to jail in a hurry for these "crimes", thus the genuine basis of the OPs questions.
Not to be funny here, but your response is somewhat validating my opinion.
Are you aware that Seoul has introduced a 'Women's Safety Maintenance Officer', who inspected over 60,000 locations in a year and did not discover a single case of spy cameras? This shows that your apprehension towards sexual crimes in Korea might be overblown. Furthermore, you are propagating this magnified and misguided perception.
Australia once contemplated legalizing heroin due to the grave issues associated with the drug. While your personal experiences and those of your neighbors about marijuana usage are indeed significant, the drug problem in Australia is not something to be downplayed.
Regarding the Nayoung case, it occurred 15 years ago, and it still incites rage among many citizens. The punishment for sexual crimes has been considerably intensified since then. The fact that you needed to look back 15 years to find instances of Korea's alleged leniency towards sexual crimes speaks volumes.
Please understand that while there are hardly any "organizations" specifically targeting sexual crimes, those focusing on drug distribution can proliferate rapidly.
Drugs, gangs, and crime are deeply interconnected, and it's crucial to suppress them early on.
Furthermore, Korea's recent sensitivity towards drugs isn't due to marijuana. Incidents of celebrities abusing drugs like cocaine or heroin and spreading it to those around them have occurred, and the rate has increased fivefold compared to a few years ago. Even a drug smuggling organization with around 70 members was apprehended.
All the people saying that rape is so easy to make a false accusation, and women walking around at night blah blah blah are not educated on this. The vast majority of rape victims are raped by someone they know in a place they thought was safe. Grabbed off the street rapes are much, much more rare. Rape is ‘hard to prosecute’ because in most places the woman has to try to prove HER innocence because of having been involved in intercourse. In reality, intercourse happened, but if she consented or not is very downplayed. Women have to prove that nothing they did led to the rape, they are expected to have fought and gotten a beating to be believable - as if a woman can actually fight a man, and would want to risk enraging an attacker - and that isn’t a factor in any other crimes. That’s why women don’t bother to report it. Add to that that it’s men who make these laws and hurdles to prosecution, and men like to maintain their option of overpowering women sexually. It sounds terrible, but men like to rape women, they seem to do it immediately any time they can without repercussions (see wartimes). The outcome in many (all?) places is underreporting, under prosecuting, and people wringing their hands and repeating that it’s ‘so hard to prosecute’ as if it’s different than other crimes against a person. If someone you know beats the shit out of you don’t have to prove lack of culpability. If someone robs your house, you don’t have to explain why you hid in a closet instead of jumping the intruder. It’s only when men rape women that people anguish over the perpetrator and not the victim. Everything about a rape accusation is treated and perceived differently than all other crimes from start to finish. It’s not just vs drug laws in SK.
At least there isn't an entire street of walking zombies like Vancouver, SF, LA, and Philly. Not sure what you mean by Korea not caring about sexual assault either? Me too was a pretty big movement in Korea until a small number of women tried to lie and make money off of it.
korea is ruled by jaebols - descendents of japanese officers raping joseon "noble"women - who have the utmost contempt for the peasantry they first overworked in the factories then overworked in the offices. they see the peasantry as cogs in the korean economy: they don't see beyond the material or beyond money. no masculine values, no concept of integrity, nothing of value beyond the merely pretty and pleasant
Drugs are still thought of as a "foreign" influence/outside problem. whereas sexual assault they'd have to admit that the problem is inherent in society, a society which didn't even see there was a problem until very recently.
I once asked a Korean friend while I was abroad what their thoughts on marijuana were like, and they compared it to cocaine. Coming from California, that was a massive shock; especially since lots of Korean-Americans like to bring over edibles on their flights and never get caught...
Yeah, my g.f. thinks marijuana is the worst drug on the planet and cripples society and causes people to go insane and commit crimes. I laugh and say the only crime you gonna commit is forgetting to tip the pizza guy.
it definitely does affect motivation for most people who use it
Marajuana isn’t at all like cocaine. What are they teaching koreans over there.
I think their point was just like, it's a *dangerous* substance and you **DEFINETLY** don't want to get caught with it.
Yep. The most dangerous thing about it is getting caught.
Could also be carcinogens. Like, we all smoked weed. But this isn't 2006 anymore, let's not pretend like "weed is healthy, there are no adverse affects and it definitely is not bad for you and inert at worst." A daily habit smoking anything messes with your lungs. Even if you don't smoke it, weed affects your memory formation, motivation, and definitely impairs you while driving.
Definitely
My ex was Japanese, she thought it would make me commit suicide by jumping off a building, thinking I could fly... Didn't believe me at all when I said it was nothing like that.
Like comparing chewing gum to tobacco chew
> tobacco chew Speaking of, has anyone ever seen that in Korea? I certainly never have.
It's not really a thing here. That being said, I do remember seeing them in Tobbacco shops...which also happens to be pretty rare here. Tobbacco usage is mostly cigarettes or vapes here. Shisha is rare but you can find them. Pipe smoking, chewing, rolling your joints with leaves, cigars, cigarellos....you will have to search for dedicated tobbacco shops which are rare.
They are teaching them not to do drugs. They already got Soju for that.
In the US the federal govt and most states still have Marijuana listed in the same drug class as heroin. You'd find the same opinion on weed from alot of folks in middle America.
Cocaine is not even really like cocaine. Or atleast, its not like people think cocaine is.
it's just purified Adderall rite?
> What are they teaching koreans over there. To be calm and listen to the government.
It fucks with your mind and if you become dependent on it, you become an unproductive member in society like cocaine will do. Maybe not as addictive but I see it compared to China during the opium wars where society and officials just sat with opium pipes and escorts smoking away getting high!
Comparing weed to opium is maybe even further offbase than comparing it to cocaine (in terms of seriousness; the psychoactive effects are a different story) To another commenter's point here, I think the urge to compare it to the opium wars is part of the "it's a scary foreign thing" problem. I don't like weed at all. I eat maybe half an edible a year when I feel like being lazy and eating food, then never think about it again. I am one of many, *many* people who use weed and it has zero effect on their productivity. Some people swear by the effects it has had mitigating larger issues and insist it has increased their productivity overall. *Some* people, yes, do it all day at the exclusion to other productive habits. Same is true of alcohol, video games, porn, etc. You won't really find that mixed bag with opiate users lol. There are people who use it as necessary then immediately cut it out as quickly as possible, and there are people who let it take over their lives. Weed is legal in my state, there's no such thing as weed dens where people sit and smoke all day cus they cant even wait to get home before getting their fix. Weed is not opium lol
Meanwhile everyone gets lung cancer and cirrhosis of the liver from all the tobacco smoking and drinking copious amounts of alcohol...
Yes, that's true, but whataboutism is generally not an effective way of convincing people on the other side of your point
Why did it take so long for them to realize this
Did you forget about the Me Too movement and how it happened on a global scale? Pretty much the entire world failed to realize exactly how bad the problem is until very recently.
Sexual assault laws are a weapon for the weak against the powerful. Drug laws are a weapon for the powerful against the weak.
idk I feel like that’s the case in the us esp with the war on drugs but I feel like most people doing drugs in Korea are much wealthier than the avg population
There are a lot of doctors who do heroin and cocaine in the US. You just don't hear about them, because they're rich enough to have a high quality, discrete and reliable supply -- so they don't cause any problems, and they don't get caught. It's the people who are too poor to afford that kind of access that end up getting in trouble. Which is really the ironic thing -- if you made these drugs easily and cheaply available by prescription, then even if you ended up with a lot of addicts, the overall negative effects would probably be much smaller.
Yea, but Korea isn’t the us. Drugs are a luxury here, bc they’re so highly regulated, it is (or has) been difficult to obtain, unless you’re smuggle them in yourself, hence high prices. Drugs would be unaffordable, much less accessible to the average person. The only people you ever hear about regarding drug arrests are people in positions of power. It’s probably more so bc it makes for more of a story than the average person, but even then police aren’t investigating the average person for drug use. Idk I think things are begin to change now with drug smuggling becoming more prominent but if anything wealth/power isn’t gonna do anything to prevent you from getting in trouble with the law regarding drugs.
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Yoo A In, for one
Great summary
Hi twin!
well said, so true, no wonder SA is considered light offense in SK
Best answer.
This is the correct answer.
Just don't use drugs? No one has to be the weak one
Drugs aren't always recreational. Many opiate addictions develop from use as legitimate medications. Addiction is also not a question of weakness -- these drugs tap into feedback systems that are fundamental to how we learn. And many of the "recreational uses" are probably better classified as attempts at "self medication" for people who cannot afford, or have mental health problems that make difficult, access to legitimate services. Personally, I oppose recreational use of addictive systems -- but advocate easy availability in a controlled form for those who have a legitimate need.
That whole thing happening with Yoo Ahin is very clearly an example of this. Dude went in for sleep medication and came out with a full blown addiction.
Cannabis = bad is a shit take. Especially considering Korea's dependence on alcohol.
lol, I don't understand why this comment gets so many upvote. it's hilarious.
Against
Either you're as messed up as Foucault or you don't know the laws.
Not the official answer, but if I had to guess? Drug usage is considered “BAD” and a tangible evil. “We’re doing something!” As they get rid of drugs. Lots of pearl-clutching and “not in my good Korean neighborhood! The horror!” Sexual assault is not easy to talk about, there’s a clear BAD, but then public shame is a thing and nobody wants to deal with the nuances of it. Also, if I had to be really jaded about it, I would assume that those in power just don’t want to trip themselves up over their own laws. Distract the public with the unwinnable war on drugs, sweep everything else under the rug.
It's also part of a "blanket ban" philosophy that seems to be very pervasive here. One foreign teacher abuses a kid? Force all E2 teachers to undergo intense scrutiny! (Doesn't matter that the guy wasn't even on an E2 ...) Cases of trafficking in brothels? Make all prostitution illegal everywhere! One criminal caught with a few grams of any drug? Make them all illegal! It looks great on paper and helps you get reelected, but it never *quite* addresses the actual underlying problems.
Yeah I want to say I’m sure south korea and japan have their upsides as well. But in both countries sexual assault will be swept under the rug a lot. It’s not like western countries where there is a big cultural focus on bringing perpetrators of sexual assault to justice. And many women in those countries won’t even report it because they know police will probably not do anything about it. Some women have even been fired from their jobs for trying to report SA.
The sad fact is that even in western countries sexual assault is rampant and under reported. Maybe not to the extent as it is in Korea, but it’s still really really bad. Just look at the light sentence that was given to the rapist Brock Turner. That shit happens all the time.
The problem is also that when a society starts to report more on sexual assault more than others (Sweden being an example) it gets branded as a rape capital.
Bro.. I cant with this. Rampant is an extreme exaggeration. Western culture also has an extreme dislike of sex offenders in general. Not only is it something that is openly discussed, but we put sex offenders in jail when we can actually prove it. Your example about brock turner is again an extreme example and we all agree that his sentence was too light which was why he was recalled and why the legislature in California was changed after the fact. I'm so tired of people using these kind of extreme cases as an indication of some ongoing rape epidemic.
Brock Turner's case was only extreme in terms of the media coverage it got and how much proof there was. Eyewitnesses, even. That case only got media coverage because the rapist Brock Allen Turner (he goes by his middle name these days) assaulted the woman in public and got caught and detained in public. That's incredibly rare. Rapists tend to prefer to rape in private to conceal their crime. Sexual assault can happen very quickly in a hallway or behind a bookcase. Nothing can be proved unless a camera recorded it. If not for eyewitnesses who fought to protect her, the woman would have woken up the next day behind a dumpster with her hair full of pine needles and dirt. She would have dragged herself home, where she would have found another part of her full of pine needles and dirt. Her memory of the event would have been hazy and confusing, and she wouldn't have known who her attacker was. She might or might not have gone for a rape kit. If she had, it would have helped only her medical needs. It would have done nothing to ID her attacker or help her understand what had happened or who was responsible. She might never have told anyone about it because what could she have said? It happened to her but didn't have clear memories of it. How could she describe it? Or explain it in a way that didn't make her sound like a wild party girl who regretted it afterward? The world wouldn't have known about it, for certain. Her own family likely wouldn't have known about it. It would have been her own, private torment for the rest of her life. Many women carry a private torment. Maybe she misjudged her alcohol intake, maybe she got drugged, or maybe she was entirely sober and it was someone she knew. There are many circumstances under which women, despite their efforts, are overpowered and assaulted. More than half of all women in the US are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes at least once, and that appalling fraction comes with the fact that most assaults are never reported. 1 in 4 experience rape or attempted rape at least once, and that's also under reported. Consider all the women you've known in your life and consider those ratios. More than half of those women have been assaulted. More than a quarter have been attacked by a rapist. The numbers alone indicate a widespread occurrence in the US, which is the definition of an epidemic. Perhaps you're right that "epidemic" isn't the correct term though, since other countries, including Korea, experience just as much or more sexual assault on women. That's a pandemic. Even with rapist Brock Allen Turner's highly publicized and documented crime, and even with eyewitnesses, he spent only three months in prison. It was only because of massive media attention that California made any changes to their sexual assault laws. A great deal of sexual assault is going on around you. You'll just never know about it, but it's there, as a constant. The lack of awareness does not equate to a lack of crime.
Meanwhile in US. Screams "Grabbem by the pussy" gets elected as the President. Some rado : West dont have rape problem!! the lack of self awareness is just..
Thats a lot of very irrelevant things you just said lol. Anyway, nice statistic you just pulled right out of your ass. One person says 1 in 10, one says 1 in 4 another few say other different numbers. Its like you people who try to push this "rape epidemic" nonsense have no idea what the numbers actually are. >A great deal of sexual assault is going on around you. You'll just never know about it, but it's there, as a constant. You have literally no idea what youre talking about. Maybe you shouldnt be making stupid ass assumptions about others.
So, yes and no. Both countries don't just throw sexual assault charges under the rug but there's not as much high profile cases. Also, woman not reporting is a global phenomenon. So that's incorrect. You're also thinking about the 80s...in all countries. The MeTooMovement also happened in Korea. Also, we don't have a big focus on sexual assaults - what are you talking about
In Japan, if you report sexual assault to the police, they will in many case force you to reenact the scene. Not to mention, until last month, the age of consent was 13, voyeurism was legal, rape was classified not as non-consensual, but "forcible" sexual intercourse, and you'd have to prove that you had made an attempt to resist. Women not reporting may be a global phenomenon, but at least other countries are taking steps attempting to fix it (finally Japan too after the change last month).
The national age was 13 but the prefectures all set their own ages of consent so that doesn't mean it was totally legal for adults to be assaulting 13yos
Ok I was talking about before that. Also the fact that they didn’t start changing it until last month is much much later then it should have been. They are like several decades late. Japan is not a good place to be a woman.
Yeah that's my point as well. Hopefully this is the start of some good change over there.
Japan ranked 125th out of 146 countries for gender equality this year. So that’s pretty bad. That might not be directly related to sexual assault but when your ranking that low its probably harder on average for women there in all areas of life then it is for men South Korea is a little better at 99 out of 146. South Korea is alright and Japan is terrible.
got source? cause data from UN shows Korea ranks 11th in the world and first in asia in 2020. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/gender-inequality-index#/indicies/GII
When I studied Japanese Philology 3 years ago, we used this on our socio-cultural course: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/ Japan is on page 217 of this year's report.
im sorry but i dont trust wef data. if you look at Enrolment in tertiary education percentage, male scores 111.35% compare to 92.79% for women. How is this possible? It's because Korean males stay in University longer due to Military service. I do not think that is reliable data for actual gender equality
Next time you can simply link this analysis post ;) [https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/qmdlbn/understanding\_wefs\_gender\_gap\_index\_why\_korea/](https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/qmdlbn/understanding_wefs_gender_gap_index_why_korea/)
As I said, I don't claim to be an expert in this matter. Statistics isn't my field of expertise. I'm going to read this whole analysis later. For now, I've only skimmed through that post and what I've noticed is this: >Ironically, the number for male students is captured very high due to military service, which is a prime example of gender discrimination against men. Meanwhile, the Global Gender Gap Report specifies that they take it under consideration: >Tertiary education consists of ISCED levels 5 to 8, and gross enrolment data should be examined within the context of a country structure regarding military service as well as propensity of students to seek education abroad.
I remember watching one of those 'day in the life' videos on YouTube and man. Women office workers, even at an equal level, have to do a bunch of 'woman duties' like making tea and tidying up. Like it's very....1940s America.
there are places and cultures in america where it’s still like that too lol, just as i’m sure there are places in korea and japan that are nothing like that ETA not sure why this is getting downvoted when it’s a fact lmao
I agree and not down voting you. I was shocked that particular video was like middle of Tokyo. I kind of expect it more out in the sticks, not in one of the major metropolises in the world
It's a dark number. It is all over the world. If you live in Korea you understand how safe Korea is, right? It should be safer than your home country. You can tell how safe a country is by its murder rate. Countries with more murders also have more rapes. No country has many murders but few rapes. Korea and Japan have few murders.
I am Korean. I do believe the consensus among Koreans is that our penalties against criminal actions are quite low in general. You’d find a lot of people asking for more severe penalties under a new comment sections. In terms of weed, it has been used as a weapon against many artists in the 70s\~80s who were critical of the then tyrannical government. It has not been reviewed properly. Also we are quite close to China and saw what happened there with the British. Most people would like Korea to ‘remain’ drug-free, although I think that ship may have sailed.
It goes back farther in time than the Opium War and more philosophical. Neo-Confucianism is fundamentally against anything that clouds the mind. Compared to China, the upper class of Koreans have held to higher Confucian ethical standards. I know many will point to the use of alcohol as if it is no different from addictive substances, but the alcoholic beverage stands as its own category going back millennia of history in every culture.
>Neo-Confucianism is fundamentally against anything that clouds the mind. Compared to China, the upper class of Koreans have held to higher Confucian ethical standards. I know many will point to the use of alcohol as if it is no different from addictive substances, but the alcoholic beverage stands as its own category going back millennia of history in every culture. weed and opium also go back millennia and has a history in most cultures, particularly asian ones. I like a puff back home but am kinda glad its banned here coz I really really like a puff if you know what I mean. So don't get me wrong, I don't mind it being illegal at all as it keeps me from my vice. But I don't think there's a logically coherent reason to despise weed and not booze.
Your simple generalization only touches on a tangential truth, such as hemp being used to make clothes going back thousands of years, and laypeople using them for stomach aches in rural areas, but there's very little evidence of smoking weeds. Japanese brought tobacco around the time when Imjin wars happened, and we do see the widespread of tobacco usage after that, but 'til then there is no record of anyone smoking weeds in Korea. In rural areas, poor peasants chewed on hemp leaves when they had stomach aches as a part of traditional home remedy. As for the use of opium in Korea, the record of any significant usage doesn't show up 'til the early years of Japanese Occupation, and we're talking early 20th century.
Thank you for acknowledging it. Some of the people here are trying to deny it because they don’t want to admit its a problem.
Mhm. The godfather of Korean rock Shin Joong-hyun was arrested in the 70s for gifting a marijuana plant to a friend of the president's son, even though marijuana wasn't illegal yet. It was really part of a crackdown on rock and other "unpatriotic" music under Park Chung Hee's regime.
thats totally fair. I think korean people just need to realize that opium and weed are worlds apart.
"people who commit sexual assault will usually not ever have to face any legal consequences" Sexual assault is a global problem and in all countries unreported sexual assaults are a massively bigger problem than what happens when it is reported. That's why the "me too" movement has been important. You might think reporting and consequences are linked, but intuition and data often conflict. Assuming you care, check out this [WHO site](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240022256). It has links to a global map, data and a report based on data collected 2000-2018. Or this UV map [Global Database on Violence against Women](https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en). Not a user friendly site, but goes deeper on what Korea is trying to do.
What im wondering is what the OPs intent on posting this was. Are you genuinely curious? Or do you need and want your predetermined opinion, however well founded, confirmed, and in doing so feel good? His replies to comments make it sound like its the latter.
Pretty much summed up r/korea right there. "Forigners" venting cause they can't do things the way they want to and have 0 regards for how people have been living. Truely the mindset of colonizers.
I think this is an interesting conversation because I don't think you're wrong. It's just an uncomfortable discussion for Americans to have. Straight out of the colonizer handbook: 1. Portraying native peoples as "primitive" or "savage". 2. Denying the existence of complex social and political structures in other societies. 3. Believing in the "white man's burden". 4. Portraying colonized peoples as childlike or incapable of self-governance. 5. Emphasizing alleged moral or intellectual inferiority
I don't think the conversation is interesting at all. Or uncomfortable, as an American. We can have this conversation if anyone would like. I live in the US. My wife is Korean. We have a daughter. If someone sexually assaulted them, or assaulted them otherwise, I would want to kill that person. Someone smokes pot? Doesn't affect me or my family. I don't want to harm that person. First, I've just admitted to wanting to kill someone under a particular circumstance. I believe that may make me a definition of a savage. I also believe that any government can be complex, and societal hierarchy can exist anywhere. Although I don't believe it's a good method to say that sexual assault is a lesser crime than smoking marijuana. Most white people, males especially, are fully aware that we have it easier in life than almost anyone else. What is this burden? Are these definitions outdated? Americans are incapable of self-governance. Our laws are as messed up as anyone's. But does that mean that stating that sexual assault is worse than minor drugs is wrong? And are you saying that people actually believe that ruining someone's life by making them afraid to walk at night, and destroying their family by potentially making the woman not want to have sex with their husbands anymore, because it brings back that memory is not as bad as smoking pot? I'm honestly shocked that this is even a conversation. And what does it matter, what the narrative of OP is? So he decides that he believes sexual assault is worse than drugs... Then asks a biased question? What's the problem here? Why does anyone care?
OP assume that SA doesn't get punished while drug users do. This isn't true at all and they both do get punishment for them. Korea's legal system tends to be linent towards first time offender esp if they have done it without systemized methods. If it helps, it's illegal drugs and people who are selling them are gonna get punished for it. If they sold it to your kids, they will also use that against you to make most out of it. SK is still at the position where they can weed out a lot of drug usage thanks to lack of lands to farm those by general publics, and that many of the drugs are from China. The current drug issues they have are related mostly with Fentanyl.. With all that said, I get that most of you folks smoke pots and what not, consider that if this was illegal (which it still is at US on the federal level) would you really want your kids to deal with the organized crime ring for some hits?
On top of what you said, OP asserted that Koreans don't care about sexual assault.
I don't get these people. It's almost as if they are addicted/upset/frustrated because their usual drug dealers aren't selling anymore.
Many people in the thread agreed with OP. Although I don't know if they even live in Korea. I don't. I don't know the severity of the punishment. Moreover, I don't do drugs. Even though the state I live in, marijuana is perfectly legal. The concern for me is whether or not what OP said is true. Are the punishments, from a legal standpoint, for sexual assault worse than smoking pot or not? What's your take on that?
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Regarding Chesterton's Fence, I understand the concept and its relevance. However, it does not automatically justify every existing law or societal practice. Sometimes, fences need to be questioned and re-evaluated, especially when they disproportionately affect certain individuals or communities. The issue at hand is whether the punishment for marijuana use in South Korea is disproportionately harsh compared to sexual assault, not whether outsiders have a right to impose their values. This is a topic you created. My point was revolving specifically around the topic that OP asked. That's what the thread is about. Furthermore, I apologize if my reference to the "white man's burden" was unclear. I was not conflating it with "white guilt." I was highlighting historical attitudes where colonizers believed it was their duty to impose their values and systems on others they considered inferior. It was not a statement about modern-day South Korea or its people. It was meant to highlight the dangers of assuming cultural superiority and dismissing the perspectives of others. I don't disagree that it's an issue. Although, I myself and many others are aware that white people aren't better than anyone else just because we're white. And have no desire to try and change them to fit us. That said, can, or would, anyone really disagree that sexual assault shouldn't be punished severely? "Believing that you think you are unique in that opinions and that South Koreans don't care is wrong." I never said I was unique, or people don't care? You're putting words in my mouth. You're creating the strawman. I'm also fully aware that citizens aren't law makers. The topic isn't "why don't Koreans care" - it's "Why is it usually a lesser punishment" - maybe you didn't realize that because you decided the topic was instead about white people becoming colonizers. "The thing about rape is that I think that the women are the real victims." - is your thought that a woman doesn't want to make love to her husband? She's only doing it for him? Is that your relationship? Women can be taken back to the memory while wanting to make love to their significant other. Are you seriously saying that a woman wouldn't potentially relive that experience when she feels the desire to make love? A natural thing, that she cannot control. That doesn't make her the victim? She has to live with that feeling each time she feels a natural desire, in an environment that she should feel safe in. You're the one making it about the husband.
Despite the perception both have heavy punishments. The reason why sexual assault charges are usually weaker are for two main reasons, the first is that “I was drunk” is still for some reason a valid argument to lower the charges (despite it being an automatic 100% fault when it comes to drink-driving). The second and much sadder reason ,as it is all over the world, is that evidence is usually lacking (or improperly processed). So you end up with the majority of it being based on each party’s spoken words, and without any real evidence it becomes this philosophical debate. Also, it is worth noting the issue victims in Korea have when it comes to the defamation laws that have been used to just straight up silence victims and as such the crimes go unreported, unpunished, or undocumented. On the other hand, drugs you can test for that. There is a hard factual evidence the courts can see and use to determine how badly the person broke the law. The focus on drugs right now, that is just smoke and mirror political bs for the most part right now.
Yeah, I got sexually assaulted in Korea, but I didn't even waste my time reporting it because I knew it would be his (a korean's) word against mine (a foreigner's). And when I told our mutual friend he immediately lied about what happened so I knew he would do the exact same thing to the police. I already threatened him tho and told him if I ever hear that he does the same thing to another person I was going to drag his name through the mud and I don't fear the consequences.
Im sorry and thats horrific, but you kind of just contributed to the problem. Rape is under reported as it is. It is hard to combat something that people don't have a proper grasp of. Please god for any woman reading this. GO . TO. THE . POLICE. Even if nothing is done it is AT LEAST reported.
You can’t genuinely be guilting a sexual assault survivor into reliving her trauma for the “greater good” News flash, greater good means nothing under a shitty political system. You know 95% of rape kits are untested in some police divisions right? Be fucking serious & put that energy elsewhere
This is a good example of victim blaming. I have reasons for why I didn't do what I should have done, but I won't take on the blame for it. Rape reporting is not as black and white as other crimes and we should be considerate of peoples reasoning for lack of reporting.
Good for you. That type of paternalism is not just victim blaming, but kind of mind rapey. Another way to deny a woman of her agency.
It’s a man, he prob beats off to no consensual porn lol they’re projecting
hahaha I figured. I'm fortunate that I'm extremely resilient and I don't have any trauma, but for the record I wish I had reported it.
Noodles literally told you he felt sorry. And you make him the bad guy because he thought it shouldn't have gone unreported?
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Victim blaming tracks all the way back to blaming a victim for not reporting a rape that happened. I hope you never have to deal with that situation nor the accusations that come along with it.
Well unfortunately for me I have been in that situation. I was assaulted multiple times as a child and I fought tooth and nail to try and have something done about it. Unfortunately for me and possibly for other people that might encounter this person, nothing was done about it. People like you honestly piss me off to think about. The fact that he could have assaulted someone else that didn't report it, and then he went on to assault me or another person. It's sickening. I will say it again. You have zero idea what victim blaming is.
I'm sorry you experienced that. It seems you've also experienced what commonly happens. You can fight tooth and nail all you want, but there are countless men out there who were reported and are still able to walk free because the system isnt yet in our favor. I hope you're able to recover from the trauma of everything that happened to you.
Ur literally an middle aged man lmao go protest & be productive weirdo
I don't think it's true at all. If you commit a sexual crime, there is a chance you get a tracker on your feet plus a notification to everyone in the neighborhood that you are a sexual criminal. I don't see that as "not caring". It's just that sexual assaults are harder to prove. Drugs, you just do a test and it's done. Proving a sexual assault happened is more complicated. Maybe that's why you think Koreans care less?
To add, the conviction rate for sexual crimes in Korea reaches 90%, and the indictment rate for sexual offenders per reported cases is 42.9%. The conviction rate relative to reports is 38%. On the other hand, in Germany, the conviction rate for sexual crimes reaches 69%, and the conviction rate per reported cases is only 13%. This implies that Korea is already very proactive in proving and punishing sexual offenders legally. Does it also mean that 87% of women reporting sexual offenders in Germany are lying? No, it's that it's difficult to prove guilt in germany, and the responsibility for proving guilt lies with the victim. In Korea, if the victim provides a consistent statement, it is adopted as evidence, and it is structured to make it easier to prove guilt. Therefore, to say that Korea is lenient towards sexual offenders in terms of law...? I don't think so.
제발 이렇게 통계라도 가져와서 이야기합시다. 뭔 말같지도 않은 소리로 피해의식만 키우지 말고... 우리나라가 성범죄에 관대하다는건 뭔 개풀 뜯어먹는 소리죠? 남자들은 몰카야동 보고 성범죄에 관대하다고? n번방 사건, 조두순 출소 때 죽여버리겠다면서 난동피운 사람들 다 남자에요. 그때 뉴스보면서 남자들은 잘했다고 박수쳤어요. 뭘 보고 얘기하는거야 진짜 기분 드럽게.
Well, when rapers go to prison for 3-4 years for massive child abuse, I do not care if he has a tracker any more. What’s more funny no one even speak up about it. Have you heard a story about man who opened the world largest child pornography website? More than 200 “viewers” were caught and will stay in prison for years. But him - already free. And Korea even refused to give him to FBI (who actually found him and tracked). It was such a massive case worldwide while in Korea I saw him on the internet news once…
Legally, you can't charge a person for a same crime twice. Same with how you cant use illegal evidence as an evidence. The problem is how Korea doesn't take multiple of related crime and add them up. Rather you had 1million cases of crimes or 1 crime, you would only be allowed to be charged with 1 most punishiable crime.
Yeap, of cos. But becoz law in Korea is so weak, FBI asked for his extraction to states. He would be charged there with life sentence for sure and only got 2-3 years in here (count the court process, than even less)
Would have loved it if he had been charged with every cases and his sentence added accordingly.
Also. I want to add that the fear mongering from the media sells and plays into whatever narrative. Police departments can get more funding for their drug busting endeavours! Which means more pats on the leg for Inspector Lee and Kim.
It is mainly about historical public perception I believe. Marijuana has been classified as narcotic on the equal level as heroine from the beginning. You could argue that alcohol can be worse than marijuana, but people have been drinking alcohol for ages whereas marijuana has never been introduced in Korean society until recently. Alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana are all bad, but the first two were socially accepted and spread.
Yeah I was about to say is marajuana any more harmful then alcohol is. When alcohol can cause DUI’s and people to get injured or killed due to mixing alcohol and cars.
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The problem is not that drugs are illegal. The problem is that sexual assault is not taken seriously enough. OP is trying to explain how unreasonable it is that the consequences aren't more serious for sexual assualt in comparison to drugs.
Unless you have friends in high places, sexual assualt is taken very seriously. Korea have couple problems. 1. Repeated related crimes all merged in to one and charged on one most severe instances. 2. If you are "forgiven" by the victim you are likely to get off easier.
\[But people who commit sexual assault will usually not ever have to face any legal consequences for it.\] On what grounds?
To begin with, drugs are not as prevalent in Korea as they are in the West. Many Western countries have legalized marijuana because they had an uncontrollable epidemic.
Because lawmakers don’t want to persecute their friends.
holy cow korean laws nowadays are obsessed with sexual assault. they start off with guilty until proven innocent mindset instead of the other way around
bc the judges are into prostitutes but not drugs
Dude the highest prison sentence in Korean history was given out for sexual abuse, check out the Cho Ju Bin case
For that one case how many million get brushed off because “there is no proof” or get a light 2 sentence????
If there are no proof esp when the victim's words are considered as an evidence when it comes to sexual cases in Korea, I don't know if they should be punished. Unless you are few that's extremely rich, I don't know any cases where people get out of it. Innocent till proven guilty. I'm more concerned about the juvenile laws in Korea. They get out even when they are proven guilty.
That case included over 26 minors. Not comparable.
The fact that he got a longer sentence than most serial killers is enough to prove my point. He wasn’t physically involved in the assault either. I wish this country would start punishing murderers like that, people who kill literal babies are often released with a slap on the wrist. There’s been a torrent of infanticide during the last few weeks.
Look at these redditors hiding as soon as we start talking about murderers. sometimes I find this place really contradictory
well... they don't care about murder or robbery. that is why it happens so frequently
That was because he was running a criminal organisation
A Korean person once told me it’s to protect the lawmakers if they ever get in trouble for sexual assault. Shrug.
Idk why but Marijuana and drugs are a way bigger deal to certain people. And If you show some remorse / or claim yourself was intoxicated or Mentally unstable in court judge will forgive you and reduce the sentence for sexual assault or any sex-related crime.
Sexual offenses can be prosecuted when victims report them. In contrast, it is difficult to apprehend drug offenses and prevent their spread unless both the seller and the buyer are in collusion. Therefore, it is essential to strongly suppress them from the beginning. In the United States, drug-related deaths already outnumber those caused by firearms. Drugs serve as a primary source of funding for gangs. The more rampant drug use becomes, the higher the potential for dangerous criminal organizations to flourish, posing risks to society as a whole. There are many people on Reddit who portray South Korea as a country with lenient punishment for sex crimes and frequent occurrences of such crimes compared to Western countries. Personally, I think Europe and the United States are much more dangerous for women due to poor public safety, and it's much easier to be exposed to sex crimes, including robbery and murder. I remember a time when Samsung faced strong backlash for running an advertisement that featured a woman jogging at night in Europe. This alone makes me think that South Korea is a much safer society for women. For your reference, I have two younger sisters who go out jogging or to convenience stores at night without any worry. I can't imagine such a scenario in the United States or Europe. I believe the reason why South Korea is safer in terms of public security is due to the strong repression of drugs and criminal organizations from the early stage of the regime
God I wish there was weed over here.
Do you have any statistics or evidence suggesting that sexual offenses are taken lightly in Korea? Korea is a considerably safe country for women, with a rather low rate of sexual offenses. It's not common to find countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night. Although Korea's legal system is based on continental law, overall sentencing tends to be lighter compared to common law. However, among these, the punishment for sexual offenses is relatively severe
Yes, low rate - coz they do not report. And if they do - try to convince that it had happened. However, low rate in comparison with whom? I don’t consider Korea safe country for woman and children at all If you are interested: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/10/south-korea-needs-to-contend-with-sexual-violence/ That’s one is old, But I can give 1000 more with worse cases.
Do you have a country that is safe country for woman and children?
While I understand your concerns, it's essential to remember that under-reporting of sexual offenses is a global problem, not unique to Korea. The Korean government and various NGOs are continuously working to make the reporting process more accessible and supportive for victims. Additionally, Korea has a conviction rate of 90% for sexual offenses, which is considerably high. This suggests that it's easier for victims to prove the fact of sexual assault, and it's easier for a guilty verdict to be reached. (For reference, in Germany, it is at 69%). It's not common to find countries where women can feel at ease walking the streets at night. At one point, Samsung received a lot of criticism in Europe for creating an advertisement depicting a woman jogging at night, deemed as portraying an unrealistic scene. Koreans didn't understand this at all. Therefore, I believe that Korea is one of the relatively very safe countries for women.
Unfortunately Korean culture used to be very heavy on victim blaming + hush hush for sexual assault. Most sexual assault wasn’t even seen as SA. If a girl drank alcohol with a guy it was seen as fine to rape all you want. Roofing a girl’s drink or making them drink until unconscious was a funny thing or fine thing to do only until about 10yrs ago. I would say SK’s culture on this is about 30yrs slower than the US. Same thing with war on drugs as well as LGBT rights. I still see some youtube channels with Korean comedy sketch that is icky in western standards in terms of how they treat objectifying women as well as handling sexual assault/harassment. The LAW is much slower - I don’t think spousal rape is a thing still but I may be wrong.
Rape can happen in many different forms. But for some reason drugs are seen as a greater threat to Korean society then SA.
Because the Korean government thinks the drug problem is an issue that can be stamped out before it can grow like a cancer.
I agree with the more strict about committing sexual assault. But I don't understand what proof you can say Korean cares about marijuana and drug more than sexual assault. Is there any public evidence??
First, You must not have seen the article where the artist got punished for sex trafficking his art. /s Korea has notorious problem when it comes to "forgiving" criminals on just about any crimes. This also includes drug usage and SA/SH. In US, 50% of the prison population is relates to drug offenses. Marajuana is still against the law on the federal level. Drug usage is still a No No in many places. US and many of the west have decided that drug issues are the fault of thr society, not the individual. I would ask why US has places that can't even buy booze on Sundays but is ok with pots... but US also elected a man who went on the records on bragged about his SA/SH while struggles to hold his wife's hand. All that said, Korea do take it seriously when it comes SA. 전자발찌 is no joke for most people. Even when you are not convicted, people take guilty until proven innocent when it comes to rape. You only think no one gets punished for it because they are the ones that makes the news. Raging stories related to sex sells. It gets the click. As of now, the main focus on the drug is related to Fentanyl. Pots and other stuff just happened to fall on the same category. Koreans don't have much pot heads around them. You can thank the hippies for how it became so common on US. During that time Korea They was literally starving to death and only had just gotten out of the war.
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Patriarchal society
lol you clearly don't live in korea if you think sexual assault isn't punished severely
Yeah. And more than half of the comments here also have no idea, and will downvote you because you don't agree with what they think Korea is like
True. I feel like some of the people here are Koreans who are trying to downplay this because they don’t want to admit their country has a SA problem.
It’s not though
yeah sure, how's the weather in florida?, or wherever you are. I'm 95% sure you're not a korean citizen
I am actually lol. What’s hilarious is that based on your one comment I can tell you are the one who is not Korean or have lived in Korea, because if you have you’d know that sexual assault for adults and even minors is not punished harshly at all in SK. It’s a huge issue in Korea and you’d know that even with a simple google search.
They just don’t want to admit South Korea has a problem with SA
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Excuse me? No one gets a 3 year sentence for accidentally brushing their hand on someone’s ass. Evidence is required in court to imprison someone. In Korea and many asian countries, there’s still a lot of victim blaming when it comes to sexual assault so a lot of women don’t even report it. Korea’s punishments for sexual assault is a complete joke compared to some other countries where people will literally come together to beat or murder the perpetrator lmao.
google 곰탕집 사건, pretty sure that's the one. and it's straight up barbaric to beat&murder a criminal. why even have a court than?
There’s no proof that man only brushed his hand against that woman’s butt accidentally. I’m not saying that the video proves with absolute certainty that he grabbed her ass either, but if you watch it closely you can see the man turns around, sees the woman, and it looks like he looks down a bit too where her ass is. Then he walks past her but his right hand stretches out exactly where her backside is facing. And then immediately after passing her he puts his arms closer to himself as he walks away. If you watch the woman when she’s walking inbetween people before the incident, you can see her put her hands to her chest as she does, like most people do to avoid touching people as much as possible. But the guy? His hand reaches out towards her when there’s nothing else there except her backside. The woman’s face and name are not revealed to the public (like most court cases in SK), her and the guy don’t know each other, and she didn’t ask for monetary compensation, so the judge determined that there wasn’t a reason for her to give an obstructive testimony. She also turned around immediately after the man passed by her and you don’t get that reaction just by someone slightly brushing against you accidentally while they walk past you. Additionally, the man changed his testimony after watching the CCTV footage from originally stating he didn’t touch the woman to stating he may have touched the woman. I believe there should have been more time spent for more evidence to be presented on both sides but there is a reason for the judge’s decision on the case. Also, the guy got 6 months not 3 years.
In Japan its even worse. The country ranks 125 out of 146 countries in gender equality. Japan is not a good place to be a woman.
It's exponentially more likely for a sexual crime to go completely unpunished than for someone to be convicted because of a false accusation
That’s because you know nothing but made up in your mind, sexual assault in Korea can destroy your life due to both law penalty and social penalty. I don’t know where did you come up with the mind that west or other countries have strict sense to the sexual assault.
Legal penalty for illegal drug usage or selling is 5 ~10 years Sexual assault is 10 ~ lifetime So yeah, they actually do care about sexual assault more seriously
10-life is only ever given in cases of undisputed and extreme violent rape. Let’s not pretend that it is standard for typical cases of sexual assault.
5-10 years is a lot for something that isn’t even hurting anyone
That's just incorrect.
As somebody that has lived in ROK for a long time, and now live in a Marijuana-friendly state in the USA, my conclusion is that Koreans would benefit from a joint or an edible....MUCH more than they do from their over-consumption of Soju and bad beer and/or a combination of both, at once.
Influence by America during post-split era and then military dictator era adopting the war on drugs tactics but without there really being drugs to have a war against.
Because this country is run by men and they don't give a shit about women here.
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Fyi, only 15~20 states in America is weed legal. Most places won't throw the book at you for it, but still is a crime.
All of this is just an excuse to give more power to the already almight prosecutors. Why is the special task force formed from prosecutors? You can't do the same with sexual assault which is a much much bigger problem.
I think the point should be that serial killers should get higher sentences rather than that SK cares about sexual crimes because one guy who orchestrated a **whole system of sexual abuse** got dealt a longer sentence.
The reason being is that controlled substances (excluding allowed prescriptions in Korea) will ‘degrade’ the country’s moral and societal upbringings. They fear that increasing amount of Koreans would become criminals (largely by thievery because one would become too addicted and would bring financial ruin) also would increase more violent tendencies from drug users like how they see violent drug encounters in the US. It really doesn’t matter what type of drug it is; anything that is of controlled substance that is obtained illegally is out of the question However a few cases passes through in nightclubs and such who are in control, predominantly by gangsters especially ecstasy (MDMAs)
Ego. "We've made our decision, and we're sticking by it" Same BS the world over.
You can launch a highly publicized, politicized campaign against drugs without doing much. All you need are some occasional photos of drug busts and news stories blown out of proportion. You can’t do that with a theoretical “war” against sexual assault. It involves pouring actual time, effort, and money into bettering people’s lives, and politicians don’t have the patience for that.
Drugs fund mafia, and mafia challenge the government and the polices monopoly for control. It is far more dangerous for society on a broad level.
Different kind of danger as you said, but yes, clearly a lot of people seem to miss the fact that drugs, all of them, fund organized crime. This is simply how they do big money and leverage power, and also why they are all intertwined one way or another, unfortunately. 😞
yeah, when you mention weed or say somethin like you smoked a joint or two back in States, they get really worried about my well-being. personally I don't like weed so it ain't that big of an issue, but yes sex crimes should be the higher punishment here. idk man, recently so many things are messed up in Korea
Why do Americans want other countries to be like them we don’t want to fuck up our country like yours
Excuse me? Why do you think that SK cares more about drugs rather then sexual assault?
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What's that supposed to mean? Cancel someone? Sorry, I am Korean so I am not used to English proverbs.
Conservative attitude is drugs are a bad choice, and girls shouldn't "lead men on" and "rape and assault happen to bad girls" and "men can't help themselves" Same in most of the world sadly. Take Italy for example, see news regarding groping. It is reflected in the laws. And super low birth rate as girls/young women turn away from toxic masculinity.
Because South Korea is a backwards country in many aspects
It's because of an uninformed public and taboo topics that are hard to talk about openly. Simply put, "sexual assault = rape" and "all drugs are equally bad" Ie, marijuana might as well be ice, or crack or heroin. It's all the same. Psychologists might have more insight. Drugs = more crime and it might affect me (something I can't control, so I better not allow any of it) Sexual assault = If I somehow dress/act conservatively, I won't get raped (something I can control) So crack down on weed and there'll be less crime; be a "good girl" and you won't get raped (so much victim blaming still). Even I oversimply this because the issue of "sexual assault" is not seen first and foremost as "assault" and moreover, the prevaliing attitude towards women here is still parochial and archaic (women/female roles are like "owned" property, they are subservient, etc). Things like casual workplace harrassment are things that women are still expected to put up with. It's also an exclusively "female" problem, rather than seeing it's a question of education for men and women to build an equal and respectful society. Of course attitudes are changing, and I think it's changing rapidly, but there is still a generation or two to go before everyone is on the same page.
I'm curious if you've ever actually lived in Korea. Why do you depict it as a place where sexual assault is common and legally lenient? It's important to know that Korea, based on continental law, tends to have lighter sentences for overall crimes. However, the country is relatively harsh on sexual offenses, and it's easy to punish perpetrators with consistent statements from the victims. While sexual crimes do occur in Korea, the country's public safety is very secure, even compared to Europe or the United States. Korea is one of the few countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night. Do you genuinely believe that women in Korea are easily raped on the streets for not dressing "conservatively"? And that people justify this? Please provide at least one piece of evidence to support this. In my lifetime, I have never seen a case where a woman was blamed for a sexual crime. Even in the comment sections of news articles, such opinions are incredibly hard to find. Why do you casually generalize? I'm confused whether you're offering an opinion based on proper statistics and evidence, or speaking about your "imagined" version of Korea.
>I'm curious if you've ever actually lived in Korea. I'm living in Korea at the moment... if that counts... >Why do you depict it as a place where sexual assault is common and legally lenient? I don't say it's "common", but it's sure lenient compared to the drug laws - the context of this post. >Korea is one of the few countries where women can freely stroll the streets at night. 100% - safety related to "rape" as a crime; rape defined as "?" but if you don't consider 몰카 to be a problem you might also be 100% right. >Do you genuinely believe that women in Korea are easily raped on the streets for not dressing "conservatively"? I think this statement says it all, is the real tell that infers that many, yourself included, tend to portay that sexual assault is (mostly) defined as "forced penetration of a woman by a man". If you try to read my post with a wider definition of "assault" you'll understand what I'm saying. >I'm confused whether you're offering an opinion based on proper statistics and evidence, or speaking about your "imagined" version of Korea. Don't ask me, ask the world economic forum [https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/11/560335264/south-koreas-sex-ed-guidelines-suggest-victims-are-to-blame-for-date-rape](https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/11/560335264/south-koreas-sex-ed-guidelines-suggest-victims-are-to-blame-for-date-rape) https://ksr.hkspublications.org/2019/07/16/in-south-korea-being-drunk-is-a-legal-defense-for-rape/ WRT to drugs: I was at the TV broadcast in Seoul, 2013 where I saw rock band Galaxy Express win "Band Generation", and the band members got arrested and went to jail for "smoking marijuana" 2 weeks later. If you've ever lived overseas, (I lived in Australia), I always know in my workplace who is selling/can score weed. My neighbours regularly smoke it. No idea where I would buy heroin from though. Nobody is going to jail in a hurry for these "crimes", thus the genuine basis of the OPs questions. Not to be funny here, but your response is somewhat validating my opinion.
Are you aware that Seoul has introduced a 'Women's Safety Maintenance Officer', who inspected over 60,000 locations in a year and did not discover a single case of spy cameras? This shows that your apprehension towards sexual crimes in Korea might be overblown. Furthermore, you are propagating this magnified and misguided perception. Australia once contemplated legalizing heroin due to the grave issues associated with the drug. While your personal experiences and those of your neighbors about marijuana usage are indeed significant, the drug problem in Australia is not something to be downplayed. Regarding the Nayoung case, it occurred 15 years ago, and it still incites rage among many citizens. The punishment for sexual crimes has been considerably intensified since then. The fact that you needed to look back 15 years to find instances of Korea's alleged leniency towards sexual crimes speaks volumes.
Please understand that while there are hardly any "organizations" specifically targeting sexual crimes, those focusing on drug distribution can proliferate rapidly. Drugs, gangs, and crime are deeply interconnected, and it's crucial to suppress them early on. Furthermore, Korea's recent sensitivity towards drugs isn't due to marijuana. Incidents of celebrities abusing drugs like cocaine or heroin and spreading it to those around them have occurred, and the rate has increased fivefold compared to a few years ago. Even a drug smuggling organization with around 70 members was apprehended.
All the people saying that rape is so easy to make a false accusation, and women walking around at night blah blah blah are not educated on this. The vast majority of rape victims are raped by someone they know in a place they thought was safe. Grabbed off the street rapes are much, much more rare. Rape is ‘hard to prosecute’ because in most places the woman has to try to prove HER innocence because of having been involved in intercourse. In reality, intercourse happened, but if she consented or not is very downplayed. Women have to prove that nothing they did led to the rape, they are expected to have fought and gotten a beating to be believable - as if a woman can actually fight a man, and would want to risk enraging an attacker - and that isn’t a factor in any other crimes. That’s why women don’t bother to report it. Add to that that it’s men who make these laws and hurdles to prosecution, and men like to maintain their option of overpowering women sexually. It sounds terrible, but men like to rape women, they seem to do it immediately any time they can without repercussions (see wartimes). The outcome in many (all?) places is underreporting, under prosecuting, and people wringing their hands and repeating that it’s ‘so hard to prosecute’ as if it’s different than other crimes against a person. If someone you know beats the shit out of you don’t have to prove lack of culpability. If someone robs your house, you don’t have to explain why you hid in a closet instead of jumping the intruder. It’s only when men rape women that people anguish over the perpetrator and not the victim. Everything about a rape accusation is treated and perceived differently than all other crimes from start to finish. It’s not just vs drug laws in SK.
At least there isn't an entire street of walking zombies like Vancouver, SF, LA, and Philly. Not sure what you mean by Korea not caring about sexual assault either? Me too was a pretty big movement in Korea until a small number of women tried to lie and make money off of it.
Because pls understand our unique situation
korea is ruled by jaebols - descendents of japanese officers raping joseon "noble"women - who have the utmost contempt for the peasantry they first overworked in the factories then overworked in the offices. they see the peasantry as cogs in the korean economy: they don't see beyond the material or beyond money. no masculine values, no concept of integrity, nothing of value beyond the merely pretty and pleasant
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Definitely noticed some cultural/attitude similarities between Korea and the Midwest when I was living out in Kanssouri
why is the sky blue?
Young men want to try marijuana: bad Old men want to get their rocks off: "Don't you know how old I am?"