Saturday, March 15, 2008

No safe place

Just when I finished posting something about the rarity of heinous crimes here in Korea, I found this, and this.
I thought I live in a safe place. It maybe my naivete but my thought process on these things comes from what I've experienced so far. I have lived here for almost 9 years now and I am just now realizing the extent of evil here.

I've always complained about the unfair treatment of women, not just here but around the world. I knew some women who came here the same way as the Vietnamese girl in the news. They (more than one girl) met them in a hotel as arranged by the matchmaker. The man picks his type based on his preference. Like picking an apple on a fruit stand. Girls line up, man OKs, it's all set after that. Most women I've met just wanted to leave the Philippines hoping they'll find something better here. They thought since the men pay the agency to be with them, they must be special. Korean men's thought process is different ( as reported by a women's group here in Seoul), they're paying for a commodity so they can do whatever they want. It's just a pity when something like this ends with death.

There are lots of missing children here. You see photos of them everywhere. It was always thought that when a child goes missing here, especially if they're too young, they're placed at adoption homes. These homes don't report the name or where they found the child in order to receive more funds from the government. Next thing you know they're adopted by couples abroad. Google adoption and Korea and you'll find 336,000 articles about it.
Anyways, back to the missing child. Her death is a tragedy and the way she died was just barbaric. A kidnapper/murderer out on the street is just frightening.
I have kids and seeing this news makes me worry about my children more every time I send them alone to school.

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