Six additional staff members confirmed facing charges, five for assault

Special investigation unit wraps up probe; further abuse inquiries planned

Kim, the director of Saekdongwon, a residential facility for people with severe disabilities, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Feb. 19 after attending a pretrial detention warrant hearing. Kim faces charges including sexual assault against female residents with disabilities and assault under the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act. [Yonhap]
Kim, the director of Saekdongwon, a residential facility for people with severe disabilities, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Feb. 19 after attending a pretrial detention warrant hearing. Kim faces charges including sexual assault against female residents with disabilities and assault under the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act. [Yonhap]

Police have confirmed additional assaults by staff at Saekdongwon, a residential facility for people with severe disabilities in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, following earlier allegations of sexual violence by the facility's director. Authorities determined that six staff members had committed offenses and transferred the case to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's special investigation unit said Wednesday it had conducted pre-indictment investigations into 13 staff members, formally booked seven of them, and ultimately determined that six faced substantiated charges. Five are accused of assault under the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act, while one faces charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

Police also confirmed that the director had misappropriated subsidies. He is accused of embezzling 7.1 million won ($5,360) in subsidies and defrauding the facility of 18.98 million won in donation funds. Police referred him on those charges on May 15.

The Saekdongwon case came to light after allegations emerged that the director and staff had committed sexual violence and assault against residents with severe disabilities. Calls for a full accounting of the abuse and for accountability over the facility's oversight grew after a deep-dive investigation report commissioned by Ganghwa-gun late last year was reported to contain testimonies of sexual violence from 17 female residents and two former residents — 19 people in total.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency launched a pre-indictment investigation into the director's sexual violence allegations in May last year. After forming the special investigation unit in January, it expanded the probe to cover allegations of sexual violence and assault against all residents, as well as the director's suspected misuse of subsidies.

Investigators interviewed or surveyed 62 of the facility's 87 residents — excluding 25 who had died — along with 240 staff members, and analyzed the collected materials. They confirmed that 10 residents had been victimized: three were victims of sexual violence and seven of assault.

Earlier, police arrested and referred the director to prosecutors in February on charges of aggravated rape and violations of the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act, and referred two staff members without arrest on disability welfare law violations. Director Kim was indicted on charges including violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act. On Sept. 2, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to 15 years in prison at the first-instance trial.

A Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official said the agency had concluded its investigation and that the National Investigation Headquarters planned to direct other regional police agencies to look into potential additional sexual violence cases, in response to a request from a joint countermeasures committee that further abuse be examined.


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