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Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance

& Other Ill Treatment

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                        gvnet.com/torture/SouthKorea.htm

Republic of Korea - ROK

(South Korea)

Reports of abuse by guards in South Korea’s prisons are infrequent, and prison conditions generally meet international standards.

  [Freedom House Country Report, 2020]

Description: Description: Description: SouthKorea

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Republic of Korea.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the courtroom.  Perhaps your paper might focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures, starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water.  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.  There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Republic of Korea

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/south-korea/

[accessed 8 August 2021]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

The law prohibits such practices, but there were a few reports that government officials employed them; the Center for Military Human Rights Korea, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported some instances of violence and cruel treatment in the military.

Gwangju apology: South Korea sorry for rape and torture committed by troops against protesters after 1980 coup

Agence France-Presse AFP, 7 November 2018

www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2172098/gwanju-apology-south-korea-sorry-rape-and-torture-committed

[accessed 11 November 2018]

South Korea’s defence ministry on Wednesday broke decades of silence to apologise for martial law troops raping women including teenagers when they crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1980.

Defence minister Jeong Kyeong-doo issued a public apology for the inflicting of “unspeakable, deep scars and pain” on “innocent women” who were raped and subjected to “sex torture” by soldiers cracking down on protests against a military coup by general Chun Doo-hwan.

Demonstrators in the southern city of Gwangju and passers-by were beaten to death, tortured, bayoneted and disembowelled or riddled with bullets.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/south-korea/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 18 May 2020]

F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES?

Reports of abuse by guards in South Korea’s prisons are infrequent, and prison conditions generally meet international standards.

Torture in South Korea - Legal framework regarding torture:

Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

www.humanrights.asia/countries/south-korea/torture-in-south-korea

[accessed 26 Jan 2014]

www.humanrights.asia/tortures/torture-in-south-korea/

[accessed 14 January 2019]

THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM - The Republic of Korea has recognised the competence of the Committee Against Torture pursuant to Article 21 and 22 of the Convention in November 2007.

However, two significant problems in the country exist. First, redress for the victims who were tortured and convicted through the confession by torture and fabricated evidence by the Agency for National Security Planning, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service. After the establishment of Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the end of 2005, such cases were examined so that the victims can bring the result of the findings to the court for a review. However, such cases were reviewed mainly not based on the confession through the act of torture but prolonged detention. In particular, those victims of spy cases where the government agencies had fabricated simply wanted themselves to be found innocent rather than punishing the then police officers. Those police officers still keep in mind that the act they had done at that time was for the state. Some victims were found innocent through the review but the government has still failed to investigate fact finding to the act of torture in the past, nor provide comprehensive programmes for the treatment and rehabilitation (both physical and mental) of victims of torture and ill-treatment, including the right of fair and adequate compensation. The UN Committee Against Torture has also expressed its concerns about this failure. (CAT/C/KOR/CO/2).

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture

U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment  -- Doc. CAT/C/KOR/CO/2 (2006)

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/korea2006.html

[accessed 2 March 2013]

7. Despite the existence of legislative and administrative measures to prevent and prohibit torture and other forms of ill-treatment, the Committee remains concerned at continuing allegations of torture and intimidation committed by law-enforcement officials, in particular in relation to the use of excessive force and other forms of ill-treatment, during arrest and investigation, and in detention and correctional facilities.

The State party should give higher priority to efforts to promote a culture of human rights by ensuring that a policy of zero tolerance is developed and implemented for all law-enforcement personnel, as well as for all staff in detention and correctional facilities.  The State party should also intensify its efforts to reinforce human rights education, awareness-raising and training activities in general, and with regard to the prohibition of torture in particular.

8. In view of the number of reported allegations of torture and/or other acts of cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment, and of complaints of human rights violations in general, the Committee is concerned about the relatively low rate of indictments, convictions and disciplinary measures imposed on law-enforcement officials.  In this regard, the Committee is also concerned that the application of a statute of limitations on torture offences, in both criminal and civil law, may result in the lack of investigation, prosecution, and punishment of acts of torture, as well as in the lack of compensation and other remedies provided to victims of torture.  Further, the Committee is concerned that there are no specific programmes for the treatment or rehabilitation of victims of torture.

(a) The State party should ensure in its legal system that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are promptly and thoroughly examined, and that all victims obtain redress and have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation;

(b) In this regard, the Committee urges the adoption of the bill to exclude or suspend the application of a statute of limitations to crimes against humanity (including torture crimes), which is currently pending before the National Assembly;

(c) The Committee also urges the State party to establish comprehensive programmes for the treatment and rehabilitation (both physical and mental) of victims of torture and ill-treatment, including the right to fair and adequate compensation.

9. The Committee notes with concern that the right to have legal counsel present during interrogations and investigations is not presently guaranteed by the Criminal Procedure Act and is only permitted under guidelines of the public prosecutors’ office.

The State party should take effective measures to ensure that fundamental legal safeguards for persons detained by the police are respected.  In this regard, the Committee recommends the adoption of the relevant amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, currently pending before the National Assembly, guaranteeing the right to have legal counsel present during interrogations and investigations.

Search … AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

For more articles:: Search Amnesty International’s website

www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=south+korea+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance

[accessed 14 January 2019]

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*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61613.htm

[accessed 12 February 2013]

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61613.htm

[accessed 7 July 2019]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law prohibits mistreatment of suspects, and officials generally observed this prohibition in practice.

Unlike in previous year, there were no reports of police abuse of persons in custody.

In 2004 the Ministry of Justice implemented several reforms aimed at addressing abuse in prisons. These reforms included the prohibition of facemasks, restrictions on the use of long chains, and limitations on the amount of time an inmate could be kept in solitary confinement.

The government continued to investigate incidents of possible abuse under the country's former military regimes. By year's end the Commission for the Restoration of Honor and Compensation to Activists of the Democratization Movement, established to review cases in which political activists may have been tortured, had reviewed 9,050 cases since 2000 and determined that compensation was due in 540 of them.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 1   Civil Liberties: 2   Status: Free

2009 Edition

www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/south-korea

[accessed 12 February 2013]

LONG URL   ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21

[accessed 13 May 2020]

South Korea’s judiciary is generally considered to be independent. There is no trial by jury; judges render verdicts in all cases. Officers of the National Police Administration, under the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, are occasionally responsible for verbal and physical abuse of detainees. While South Korea’s prisons lack certain amenities, such as hot water in the winter, there have been few reports of beatings or intimidation by guards.

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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- ROK (South Korea)", http://gvnet.com/torture/SouthKorea.htm, [accessed <date>]