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By Lee Hae-rin
One out of every two Korean adults mistakenly believe that a violent act committed by a wife against her husband does not constitute domestic violence. In contrast, an overwhelming 94.1 percent perceive that only violent acts committed by a husband against his wife constitute domestic violence, a recent study shows.
According to "Integrated Support and Protection for Victims of Violence at Home," issued by the Korean Women's Development Institute, Sunday, only 12.2 percent of Koreans understood the definition of domestic violence properly. The institute surveyed 754 people aged over 19 last November to obtain the latest results.
As defined by the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence, domestic violence refers to physical or psychological harm inflicted by a family member on another family member within a household. The law specifies that a "family member" includes relationships between spouses, parent and child, and relatives living together.
The study shows that domestic violence victims are largely perceived as women, as an overwhelming 91.4 percent of respondents believe harm inflicted by a husband on his wife constitutes domestic violence, while only 50 percent were aware that the reverse situation also qualifies as domestic violence.
As a result, the country's domestic violence victim support system is focused solely on female victims, according to the report, making it challenging for other victims, such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, to receive proper help.
The survey showed that a low rate of domestic violence cases are reported.
More than half, or 55.7 percent of the respondents, said they experienced domestic violence, but only 13.1 percent reported it to police, while 50.1 percent said the biggest reason not informing law enforcement was the perception that it is a family matter.
Also, only 27.5 percent, or 64 out of 233 witnesses of domestic violence, have reported the incidents to police. The respondents' said they did not report the cases, because they "did not know whether the acts constituted domestic violence" (36.1 percent), "thought it was a family matter" (33.3 percent), "felt that reporting would not make any difference" (28.4 percent) and "were afraid that the perpetrator would harm the respondent for reporting" (26.6 percent).
Moon Yoo-kyung, a director of at Korean Women's Development Institute, said, "(an act of domestic violence committed during) a fight between spouses or as a part of corporal punishment in child education are often considered 'inevitable' or as a 'private matter' in Korea," which makes it difficult for an outsider to intervene and stop the violence.
