Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/SouthKorea.htm
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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 [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] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 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. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. 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
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