Tag: self defense

It is good to see at least some common sense prevailed in this instance of self defense in South Korea:

A South Korean woman has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing after her alleged rapist accused her of “excessive self-defence” for biting off part of his tongue. 

Police in the southern port city of Busan said they did not find any legal grounds to charge the woman in her 20s who bit off approximately three centimetres of the man’s tongue, reported the Korea Times.

The man, in his 30s, had allegedly found the woman in a drunken state on the street and offered to take her to her hotel, but he is accused of driving instead to a deserted spot and then sexually assaulting her. 

He is said to have reported his injury to the police station but officers gathered to evidence from surveillance cameras and the dashboard camera of his car and recommended he be indicted for illegal confinement and sexual assault. 

“Although her actions exceeded normal limits of self defence, based on discussions with external experts and lawyers, we came to the conclusion that it can be justified according to Article 21 of the Criminal Law Act,” the Times quoted an officer as saying. 

The Telegraph

You can read more at the link, but this is something soldiers have to consistently reminded of, you have little expectation to self defense in South Korea. For example a soldier was assaulted and had a metal pole smashed across his face by a group of Koreans and he had to pay $9,000 in restitution to the people that attacked him because he defended himself.

Other examples of the negative consequences of defending yourself can be seen with the 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident or the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl.  In these cases the GIs were punished for defending themselves while the Koreans that started the fights got away with no legal consequences. This is why I have always said it is best to swallow your pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans.

Here is another example that Americans in Korea should take note of, you don’t have the same right to self defense in the ROK as you would in the US:

A man has received a prison sentence for assaulting a driver who attacked him first.

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the man, 39, to eight months in prison Saturday for retaliating against a driver, 52, who hit him first with a weapon after an argument about the driver’s driving style.

On the other hand, the court gave the driver a suspended prison sentence.

According to the prosecution, the driver hit the younger guy with a “blunt weapon” in anger last September after repeatedly being told to drive slowly.

But the younger man took the weapon from the driver and attacked him back with it, leaving the older man with injuries requiring six weeks of medical treatment.

The younger man claimed he acted in self-defense, but the court said he had other options, including simply running away from the situation. Judge Jang Dong-min said the behavior should be considered an assault that was obviously beyond what should be allowed under the self-defense law.  [Korea Times]

The bottom line on self defense in Korea is that if you have to defend yourself, use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you.  There have been numerous examples over the years of victims of criminal activities being convicted by a Korean court for defending themselves.  The self defense law is even worse for foreigners when the Korean assailant can just lie and the police will likely blame the foreigner for the altercation.

Here are a few examples involving USFK servicemembers:

• The 2006 Dongducheon Taxi Brawl
• 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident
• 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping
• 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl

This all validates my long held advice that foreigners need to swallow their pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans.  This is because the odds are high that the police will side with the Korean if the foreigner fights back.  Probably the most ironic thing about Korean self defense law is that if you are being raped and don’t fight back enough they will let the rapist go free.

Further Reading:

Here is another reminder that in South Korea you do not have the same right to self defense as most people would expect back in the United States or other countries:

Korea has a “stand-your-ground law” that allows people to use force to protect themselves or others against threats.

But many believe the law is nothing but a name because of its lack of flexibility for defenders.

Under the law, people are allowed to use force to “prevent unjust infringement of one’s or another person’s legal interest,” as long as there are reasonable grounds for that act and the degree of force does not go beyond reasonable bounds. But the law, as precedents and police guidelines show, deems using weapons and inflicting injuries on the attacker that would take more than three weeks to recover from unreasonable ― a standard many find almost impossible to meet in reality.

If both sides sustain injuries, police almost always press assault charges on both, regardless of how the fight started and how serious each person is hurt, urging them to settle and drop allegations.

“Police do not want to give an impression that they are taking sides with anyone,” Kwak Dae-kyung, professor at the police administration department of Dongguk University, told The Korea Times. “This is why police are cautious about making a conclusion that one of them did so for self-protection.”

Also, there are too many petty altercations for police to handle. “It just takes too much time and effort to find out exactly what happened with physical evidence for every single case,” he said. “Thus, police try to conclude the case quickly for everyone involved by convincing them to settle.”

Some people refuse to settle and bring the case to court. But the court rarely recognizes self-defense claims.

“The court interprets the law very narrowly, which is the key of the issue,” lawyer Kim Yong-min said. “As long as the court’s current interpretation stands, there are few things police and prosecutors can do to change it.”

According to the law, which states that the defense act should not exceed reasonable limits, the person should not use greater force than that inflicted on him or her, which Kim thinks is the most nonsensical part of the law.  (……..)

But change may be coming here. Over the past few months, dozens of petitions were posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website to urge the government and the National Assembly to revise the self-defense law.  [Korea Herald]

You can read much more at the link, but there are numerous examples over the years of victims of criminal activities being convicted by a Korean court for defending themselves.  The self defense law is even worse for foreigners when the Korean assailant can just lie and the police will likely blame the foreigner for the altercation.

Here are a few examples involving USFK servicemembers:

• The 2006 Dongducheon Taxi Brawl
• 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident
• 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping
• 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl

This all validates my long held advice that foreigners need to swallow their pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans.  This is because the odds are high that the police will side with the Korean if the foreigner fights back.  Probably the most ironic thing about Korean self defense law is that if you are being raped and don’t fight back enough they will let the rapist go free.

Further Reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/01/do-you-have-a-right-to-self-defense-in-south-korea/

Over at the Korean Law Blog the actual ROK law is posted in regards to self defense.  Of interest is that if you ever got in a struggle with someone trying to kill you that required you to defend yourself to kill them you most likely get prosecuted for it:

Regrettably to many, Korea interprets the preceding Article 21 of Korea’s Criminal Act very narrowly. There is, only, one reported cases in the past 25 plus years where someone accused of murder has prevailed in a claim of self-defense. The only case I can find is the notorious Kongneung-Dong Murder Case. The case involved a break-in to a home that lead to the death of the burglar. The burglar was armed and he killed one person in the apartment.

The accused claimed, inter alia, that his act of killing the burglar was performed to “prevent impending and unjust infringement” (more injuries) of his “legal interest”(his life). He claimed that his only means of protecting his life was his actions. Additionally, the act of the burglar was at night.

The following charges still lead to charges by the police. The prosecution decided not to indict.  [Korean Law Blog]

You can read more at the link, but the moral of the story is that if you have to defend yourself in Korea use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you.  A perfect example of the negative consequences  that can happen is the 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident or the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl.  In these cases the GIs were punished for defending themselves while the Koreans that started the fights got away with no legal consequences.