Confucianism at its best

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At least Koreans are speaking out about this. I saw the article on Soompi, where a user is encouraging Korean Americans with Daum accounts to sign a petition to overturn this ruling. This poor girl has suffered so much, and now she is the victim of outdated values and an apathetic judicial system.

What does this ruling say about violence, gender, people with disabilities, and paternalism in general? Old age and illness have little to do with it. This is the product of systematic errors propagated by distorted Confucian values and the cultural conservatives that buy into it! The idea that a disabled rape victim would have to return to the perpetrators for "care" just because they are her only family is beyond horrifying. They make it sound like she owes them for rent and food. I am not at all familiar with Korean social services, so I would certainly like to know what would happen to the girl if her relatives were incarcerated.

This story and many others about sexual assault/harassment in Korea is fodder for criticism from around the world. In my opinion, it's very much warranted, no matter what bad blood is brought up. How can people NOT judge Koreans after reading about an atrocity like this? It's not fair to the many who are protesting the case, but WHY hasn't anything been done before to prevent it? I'm sure many children have been forced back into abusive environments because of these laws/traditional values.

This reminds me of Eastern Social Welfare Society's facilities for children and adults with mental disabilities. Of the children and adults they take in, how many are victims of abuse? It seems like the older generation has not learned much about compassion, despite all of Korea's "modernization".

Last night I skimmed through the blog of some English teacher living in Seoul; according to him the stiff conservatism over there is a facade, and Koreans are just brimming with flamboyance, rebellion, and even open-mindedness. I guess we will just have to wait another 10 to 20 years for most of the crazy old farts retire or die off...