South Korea care home director sentenced for decade-long sexual abuse of disabled residents

Seo Mi-hyeon walked into a police station with words that came slowly, shaped by an intellectual disability that made long sentences difficult. "I was hurting inside, so I came to tell my story." What followed was an account of nearly a decade of sexual assault at Saekdongwon, a state-run care home in Incheon where she had lived since 2016.

The director, identified only by his surname Kim, had visited her room at night and in the early hours of the morning to rape her. For almost ten years, this continued. Seo had no safe adult to tell—she believed other staff members would not help her, and the care home has not disputed this claim. She endured in silence until February 2025, when Kim threw a glass at her during an assault attempt. The wound sent her to the hospital. Only then, after her mother brought her home and promised she would not have to return, did Seo find the courage to disclose what had happened.

A police investigation into Seo's account widened to other residents. Investigators identified at least two additional victims. Lee Mi-Na also reported being raped by Kim. A third victim came forward with allegations of sexual violence. In early October 2026, a Seoul court sentenced Kim to 15 years in prison for the assaults on Seo and Lee—five years less than prosecutors had requested. For the third victim, the court found Kim guilty of sexual violence but dropped the rape charge, saying investigators could not establish that "force or threats" had rendered her unable to resist. Kim has denied all allegations and appealed the conviction.

But the case revealed something far darker than three victims. A team from Woosuk University, commissioned by local authorities to assess the facility's residents, found indications that at least ten more residents could have been sexually assaulted by Kim. The court did not address this finding during trial. Police had struggled to identify these potential victims because most residents had severe disabilities and faced communication difficulties. Some gave answers unrelated to questions asked. Others did not respond at all. Jeon Ji-su, the professor who led the research team, told the BBC that investigators had accepted "only the accounts of people who could describe the abuse in complete sentences." This reliance on verbal testimony meant residents with greater communication barriers were effectively invisible to the investigation. Baek In-seong, of Hansahoe, a counselling centre for survivors of sexual violence with disabilities, posed the question plainly: "If victims express their experiences differently from the way we expect, shouldn't the state make a greater effort to hear their voices?"

The case exposed how institutional power had enabled the abuse. Residents were made to call Kim "Dad," a detail prosecutors highlighted to show the unequal relationship between director and those in his care. The court's ruling noted that Kim had "exploited the imbalance of power" despite his professional duty to protect the residents' rights and prevent abuse. Disability rights groups criticized the verdict on the third victim, arguing that a victim's ability to resist should not determine the severity of the charge. They also criticized thirteen petitions submitted to the court seeking leniency for Kim, including one from a social welfare organization that asked the judge to consider his "contribution to the welfare sector." Gyeol, a welfare advocacy group, condemned this reasoning: "Past service in the welfare sector does not exempt anyone from accountability."

The abuse had persisted despite a 2011 strengthening of South Korean laws protecting disabled people from sexual assault—laws passed after public outcry over a film called Dogani, which depicted abuse at a school for deaf children. It had also persisted despite regular inspections by Ganghwa County, the local authority overseeing the facility. A county official acknowledged that inspections focused largely on paperwork and that residents were interviewed only when specific issues arose. An external monitoring team had received no reports from staff. The official expressed regret that authorities had not examined the situation more closely.

Why had families not raised concerns earlier? Jo Ha, a representative from a counselling centre supporting victims, said some families had suspected abuse but felt unable to act. Withdrawing a resident from a facility meant the family would assume all care responsibilities. Finding alternative placements was difficult—a national survey found that around six in ten people who secured a residential placement had waited at least three years. Professor Kim Yoon-tae noted that such facilities exercise total control over residents' lives: what they eat, where they sleep, their access to healthcare, whether they can go outside. The case was not isolated. In 2023, a worker received an eight-year sentence for raping or sexually assaulting two women with intellectual disabilities at another facility. In a separate case, a care home worker was recently sentenced to six years for repeatedly raping a female resident in 2022. "The violence women with disabilities experience is not an individual problem," Jo said. "It is structural violence, shaped by overlapping layers of gender, disability, institutionalisation, poverty and social isolation."

South Korea's prime minister ordered the formation of a cross-government response team, calling the incident "a grave matter that calls into question the very reason for the state's existence." In April, the government inspected 1,507 residential facilities nationwide and identified 33 suspected cases of abuse. Investigations have been opened into eight. The government said it would strengthen targeted inspections and conduct joint inspections involving local authorities, police, and disability rights agencies. Ganghwa County ordered Saekdongwon to close and revoked the licence of the foundation that operated it, though the closure has been deferred until the 33 remaining residents are relocated and independent living arrangements are completed. Saekdongwon has filed an administrative lawsuit challenging the licence revocation.

When asked what had changed most since leaving the facility, Seo said simply: "I just feel at peace. I'm happy every day." The best thing was being able to eat and sleep when she wanted. What she wanted most was "to cut ties with the director completely and never have anything to do with him again." But she also spoke to a deeper need: "I hope there can be a facility without sexual violence, where disabled people like us can live in peace."