Rapes, beatings: Korea’s dark secrets
SEOUL: When Kim Eun-hee was 10 years old, a primary school child with dreams of tennis stardom, her coach raped her for the first time. Then he did it again. And again. And again.
The would-be South Korean champion was too young to even know what sex was. But she knew she dreaded the repeated orders to come to his room at their training camp, the pain and the humiliation. “It took me years to realise that it was rape,” Kim told AFP, adding: “He kept raping me for two years... he told me it was a secret to be kept between him and me.”
Now 27, Kim spoke to international media for the first time and waived all rights to anonymity to reveal how female athletes in the South have suffered sexual abuse by their coaches.
ALL IS NOT WELL
South Korea is perhaps best known for its technological prowess and K-pop stars, but is also a regional sporting power and besides Japan is the only Asian country to have hosted both summer and winter Olympics. But it remains hierarchical and patriarchal in many respects, including a close-knit, male-dominated sports establishment.
In a highly competitive society where winning is everything, many young athletes forego schooling or live away from families to train with their peers and coaches full-time, living in a dorm-like environment for years. But it has proven to be the setting for abuse in several sports. “The coach was the king of my world, dictating everything about my daily life from how to exercise to when to sleep and what to eat,” said Kim, adding that he beat her repeatedly as part of “training”. The coach was dismissed after some parents complained of his “suspicious behaviour”, but was simply moved to another school with no criminal inquiry.
Many victims are forced into silence in a world where going public often means the end of any aspirations to stardom. “This is a community where those who speak out are ostracised and bullied as ‘traitors’ who brought shame to the sport,” said Chung Yong-chul, sports psychology professor at Seoul’s Sogang University. A 2014 survey commissioned by the Korean Sports & Olympic Committee showed that around one in seven female athletes had experienced sexual abuse in the previous year, but 70 percent of them did not seek help of any kind.