Ruling party to set up fund for helping child sex abuse victims

The ruling Saenuri Party will establish a fund to help child victims of sexual violence in the wake of the brutal rape of an elementary school student in Naju, South Jeolla Province.

Law enforcement authorities have focused on management of sex offenders, including an increase in the use of electronic monitoring anklets and chemical castration. The ruling party`s action, however, seems based on judgment that Korean society needs to pay more attention to the protection of victims as well.

Rep. Shin Ui-jin, secretary of the party’s special committee on responses to sex crimes, told The Dong-A Ilbo on Sunday, “Assistance to victims of sexual violence should be provided not only in the form of treatment of child victims but also psychological and welfare support for their families at the same time,” adding, “We`re considering measures in which organizations such as the Community Chest of Korea receive donations from the government and individuals to help victimized families of sexual violence." Currently, the Gender Equality and Family Ministry merely foots the costs for treatment of child and teenage victims of sexual violence.

When an elementary schoolgirl in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, suffered severe injuries after being raped by child sex offender Cho Doo-soon in 2008, the Korean public raised 200 million won (176,000 U.S. dollars) for her. A pediatric psychologist, Shin was the doctor in charge of her treatment.

Rep. Shin visited Naju on Friday to check the status of the case and treatment of the girl and returned to Seoul. “Another major problem is lack of experts in provincial regions,” he said, adding, “In the beginning, a nurse inaccurately introduced the victim as a peritonitis patient to medics.”

The ruling party will soon hold a consultative meeting with the government, and set up a system in which a psychologist is mobilized together with a gynecologist and surgeon to treat a victim after a sexual assault against a minor happens.

On her Twitter account Saturday, the Saenuri Party`s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye said, “Sexual violence against a child that shocked the people is a horrendous and dreadful crime that rips the child of his or her entire life,” adding, “I`ll do everything I can to introduce stern punishment for offenders and institutional measures to ensure that children will no longer fall victim (to such crimes).”

egija@donga.com