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A court in Seoul has sentenced the director of a state-funded care home in South Korea to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing three residents with intellectual disabilities. The BBC reported that the case has raised questions about safeguards and oversight in residential care.
The director, identified only by his surname, Kim, denied the allegations and is appealing the ruling. The court found him guilty of raping two women, including Seo Mi-hyeon, and of a lesser sexual violence offence against a third resident.
Seo, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, first told her mother about the abuse nearly two years after it began. She said she had kept quiet because she believed she would have to return to the facility.
How the abuse came to light
Seo began living at Saekdongwon, a care home for people with intellectual disabilities in Incheon, in 2016. She said Kim started visiting her at night or in the early morning soon after she moved in and raped her. The facility, which receives full state subsidies, still houses around 33 residents.
The case emerged in February 2025, after Seo suffered a head injury during an incident in which she said Kim tried to sexually assault her. She told her lawyer that she blocked him with her hands and that he threw a glass at her.
Seo’s lawyer said the facility took her to hospital and notified her mother only after the wound had been stitched. Her mother asked to see security camera footage to understand how the injury happened, but the facility refused, saying it was not authorised to release it.
Seo’s mother took her home and decided to withdraw her from the care home. Seo said she disclosed the abuse after being told she would not have to return. “I thought it was safe to speak because I was told I didn’t have to go back to Saekdongwon,” she told the BBC through her lawyer. Asked how she had coped for so long, she said: “I just endured it.”
Police expanded their investigation and identified two other alleged victims. The judge found the testimony of all three women credible. Kim received a five-year reduction from the 20-year sentence prosecutors had sought.
Questions over the investigation
In the case of the third resident, the court convicted Kim of a lesser sexual violence offence, saying there was not conclusive evidence that force or threats had prevented her from resisting. A joint committee of disability rights and civic groups criticised the ruling, arguing that a victim’s ability to resist should not determine the outcome.
The committee also questioned whether investigators had done enough to identify other possible victims. A research team from Woosuk University assessed Saekdongwon residents in November last year at the request of local authorities in Ganghwa County. Its report, submitted as evidence in court, found signs that at least 10 residents might have been sexually assaulted by Kim. The court did not address that finding during the trial.
Local media reported that police had difficulty interviewing residents, many of whom had severe disabilities and communication challenges. Jeon Ji-su, who led the university research team, told the BBC that investigators had accepted only accounts from people able to describe the abuse in complete sentences.
Disability rights advocates said this approach risked excluding people who communicated in other ways. Baek In-seong, of Hansahoe, a counselling centre for survivors of sexual violence with disabilities, asked whether the state should make greater efforts to hear victims whose experiences are expressed differently.
Police said shortcomings in individual instances should not be treated as representative of the investigation as a whole. Kim has not responded to allegations that he may have abused additional residents.
Facility ordered to close
The case has also drawn scrutiny to oversight of Saekdongwon. Ganghwa County conducted regular inspections, but a county official told the BBC that these focused largely on paperwork and that residents were interviewed only when particular concerns arose. The official said an external monitoring team had received no reports from staff and expressed regret that the situation had not been examined more closely.
South Korea strengthened laws protecting people with disabilities from sexual assault in 2011, following public protests over a film based on abuse at a school for deaf children. The measures included more specific categories of offences, tougher penalties for facility directors and employees, and the removal of time limits for some rape offences involving disabled victims.
Advocates say leaving residential care can be difficult for families because alternative placements are scarce and relatives may have to assume all care responsibilities. A survey by a national association of parents found that around six in 10 people who obtained a place in a residential facility had waited at least three years.
After the case came to light, South Korea’s prime minister ordered a cross-government response team. In April, the government said inspections of 1,507 residential facilities had identified 33 suspected abuse cases, with investigations opened into eight. It also said it would expand risk-based inspections and joint checks involving local authorities, police and disability rights agencies.
Ganghwa County ordered Saekdongwon to close and revoked the licence of the foundation that operated it. The closure has been postponed until the remaining residents are relocated and arrangements for independent living are made. The local government says individual support plans are being prepared for all 33 residents. Saekdongwon has filed an administrative lawsuit challenging the licence revocation.
Seo said she now feels at peace and is happy every day, especially because she can eat and sleep when she wants. She said she wanted to cut all ties with Kim and never have contact with him again. “I hope there can be a facility without sexual violence, where disabled people like us can live in peace,” she said.
