{"id":2199009,"date":"2022-09-28T08:24:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T08:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199009"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:11:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:11:32","slug":"in-south-korea-mistreatment-of-the-disabled-is-far-from-a-relic-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/09\/in-south-korea-mistreatment-of-the-disabled-is-far-from-a-relic-of-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"In South Korea, mistreatment of the disabled is far from a relic of the past"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ever since its transition to democratic governance, South Korea has had to reckon with the complicated legacy of its post-war dictatorship.<\/span><\/p>\n This has included various transitional justice commissions that have investigated decades of violence and human rights abuses, including massacres, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. One of these truth-seeking efforts resumed a little more than two years ago, when the Moon Jae-in administration <\/span>relaunched<\/span> the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK<\/a>) in Dec. 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n The commission looked into abuse at Brothers Home welfare center, known in Korean as <\/span>Hyungjae Bokjiwon<\/span><\/a>, and found that hundreds had died at the facility linked to the most notorious incidents of the state\u2019s anti-vagrant program, recommending strengthened supervision of social welfare institutions in its <\/span>report released earlier this month<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, such human rights violations are far from a relic of South Korea\u2019s past. Multiple other reports from the past year have documented cases where such social welfare institutions have continued to abuse and intimidate patients, highlighting the need for reform.<\/span><\/p>\n Implementing changes will face numerous challenges, however. South Korea has <\/span>higher than average<\/span><\/a> rates of involuntary commitment compared to other developed countries, and the stigma around disability in Korea and concerns about increasing families\u2019 burden of care have fueled <\/span>vocal opposition<\/span><\/a> to transitioning from <\/span>long-term inpatient or residential treatment<\/span><\/a> to integrated community-based care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Carrying out such a deinstitutionalization process nonetheless remains possible to achieve given enough time and a paradigm shift in South Korea. And this will require sustained engagement with countries that have made progress in empowering people with disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n