Case of Domestic Violence and Death
of Ethnic Korean Migrant Woman from China, Sunok Lee
1. Personal Information and Case Outline
Victim: Lee, Sunok (Age 59) (Born August 13, 1953/ Gandong-gu, Seoul)
Offender: Husband Hong, oo (Occupation: Non-employed)
o September 2005: Entry into Korea after marriage to Hong, introduced by sister
o July 2, 2012: Police arrive at crime scene around 8:00PM with report from sister and neighbor of domestic violence. Access delayed due to locked door. Police witness Hong with weapon and break in through the windows but the stabbed victim has already lost consciousness.
o Transferred to hospital, but pronounced dead. Put to rest in hospital.
o July 4, 2012: Media coverage.
o 5:00PM, July 4: Women Migrants Humanrights Center meets with representative from Kandong Police Criminal Affairs Division to discuss crime details, damage report, offender’s testimony and such.
o 6:00PM, July 4: Phone conversation with sister.
o Night, July 4: Son of deceased victim enters from China.
o 1:00PM, July 4: Meeting with victim’s family, sister and her husband, and son
2. Description of Meeting with Family
o There had been consistent domestic violence throughout the marriage. On the day of the crime, the son of victim Lee sensed something unusual through phone conversation. The son plead to victim’s sister to call victim for check up. Sister called the victim and during the conversation, heard a urgent cry from victim, ‘why did you pick up the knife.’ Sister immediately called to report situation to the police
o The victim had suffered from constant domestic violence from the husband – i.e. broken nose and burn from boiling pan. The woman regularly endured the husband’s alcohol influenced beatings and the neighbors often called to report the seriousness of the domestic violence
o According to the sister, the victim and the sister went to the police to file a report of domestic violence, but the police demanded whether she would file a law suit for criminal punishment. The victim had had felt too big of a burden so they returned without any guiding information of counseling centers or shelters from the police.
o The offender Hong did not allow Lee to exchange with other ethnic Koreans from China and threatened to “deport Lee to China.” Hong had repeatedly prepared naturalization papers for Lee’s citizenship and discarded them so that the victim could not acquire Korean citizenship.
o The husband scarcely participated in economic activity, so the victim worked in a restaurant to maintain household. Hong had control of the household economy along with Lee’s income. The woman had little ties to social networks in Korea, and thus, had difficulty reacting to her husband’s poor treatment.