South Korea Care Home Director Jailed for Raping Disabled Residents Who Were Forced to Call Him 'Dad'

A court in Seoul has sentenced the director of a state-funded care home for people with intellectual disabilities to 15 years in prison for the repeated rape and sexual assault of residents in his charge, a case that has ignited public outrage and exposed glaring failures in South Korea's system of residential care for the disabled.

The man, identified only by his surname Kim, was convicted of raping two women at the facility in Incheon, west of the capital, and of a lesser charge of sexual violence against a third. The court heard that some residents were coerced into addressing him as "Dad," a detail prosecutors presented as evidence of the profoundly unequal power dynamic between the director and the people who depended on him for every aspect of their daily lives. Kim has denied all allegations and has filed an appeal against the verdict.

The case centred on Saekdongwon, a facility fully subsidised by the state that housed roughly 33 residents and had operated with little apparent external scrutiny for years. According to testimony heard in court, the abuse described by one of the victims began shortly after she arrived at the home in 2016 and continued for nearly a decade before it was finally brought to light.

That victim, a woman in her 40s identified for her protection as Seo Mi-hyeon, told investigators she was raped by Kim during visits to her room at night or in the early hours of the morning. Her first words to police, delivered in the short phrases and gestures she relies on to communicate, were: "I was hurting inside, so I came to tell my story."

Seo has an intellectual disability and cannot easily form long sentences. Yet, as her lawyer Ko Eun-young told the court, her recollections of what was done to her remained vivid and consistent. Seo said she never reported the abuse to staff at the home because she believed no one there would come to her aid. Saekdongwon has not responded to that allegation.

The abuse remained hidden until February 2025, when Seo suffered a head wound that became the catalyst for the case's exposure. She said the injury occurred during one of Kim's attempts to sexually assault her: she raised her hands to fend him off, and he threw a glass at her in response.

According to her legal representative, the care home took Seo to a hospital and stitched up the wound before contacting her mother. When her mother asked to review CCTV footage to understand how her daughter had been hurt, the facility refused, saying it was not authorised to release the recordings. That refusal prompted her mother to bring Seo home and begin the process of removing her from the institution.

It was only after Seo learned she would not have to return to Saekdongwon that she told her mother about the sexual abuse. "I thought it was safe to speak because I was told I didn't have to go back," Seo told the BBC through her lawyer. Asked how she had coped on her own for so many years, she replied simply: "I just endured it."

Her mother reported the allegations to police, and the investigation widened to other residents. Detectives identified at least two additional alleged victims, including a woman referred to as Lee Mi-na, who said she too had been raped by Kim. Earlier this month, the judge presiding over the trial found the testimony of all three women credible, convicting Kim of raping Lee and Seo.

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence, but the court imposed 15 years, drawing criticism from advocacy groups who argued the penalty failed to reflect the gravity of the crimes and the vulnerability of the victims. For the third complainant, Kim was convicted only of sexual violence. The judge explained that the rape charge in her case was dropped because the court could not find conclusive evidence that "force or threats" had been used to render her unable to resist, a reasoning that has prompted particular anger among disability rights campaigners.

A joint response committee bringing together disability rights organisations and other civic groups condemned the ruling, arguing that a victim's capacity to physically resist an assault should have no bearing on the verdict. The committee also criticised the conduct of the investigation, saying police missed opportunities to identify further victims.

Those concerns were reinforced by an assessment carried out in November last year, after the initial allegations emerged. Local authorities in Ganghwa County commissioned a team from Woosuk University to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the residents at Saekdongwon. The resulting report, submitted to the court as evidence, identified indications that at least ten residents may have been sexually assaulted by Kim. The trial court did not address that finding in its ruling.

According to local media reports, police struggled to establish the details of alleged abuse when interviewing residents because most had severe disabilities and significant communication difficulties. Some reportedly gave answers unrelated to the questions posed, while others did not respond at all.

Professor Jeon Ji-su, who led the Woosuk research team, told the BBC that investigators accepted "only the accounts of people who could describe the abuse in complete sentences." Activists say this reliance on verbal testimony effectively excluded residents with greater communication difficulties from being recognised as victims, leaving potential crimes unexamined.

Kim has not responded to allegations that he may have abused additional residents. The facility has been ordered to close in light of the case, and the verdict has intensified debate in South Korea over how the state protects some of its most vulnerable citizens, particularly those whose disabilities make it difficult for them to speak for themselves. Seo's decision to come forward, advocates say, has placed that question squarely before the public.