Korean Man Jailed for Defending Himself Against Man Who Hit Him With A Weapon
Here is another example that Americans in Korea should take note of, you don’t have the same right to self defense in the ROK as you would in the US:
A man has received a prison sentence for assaulting a driver who attacked him first.
The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the man, 39, to eight months in prison Saturday for retaliating against a driver, 52, who hit him first with a weapon after an argument about the driver’s driving style.
On the other hand, the court gave the driver a suspended prison sentence.
According to the prosecution, the driver hit the younger guy with a “blunt weapon” in anger last September after repeatedly being told to drive slowly.
But the younger man took the weapon from the driver and attacked him back with it, leaving the older man with injuries requiring six weeks of medical treatment.
The younger man claimed he acted in self-defense, but the court said he had other options, including simply running away from the situation. Judge Jang Dong-min said the behavior should be considered an assault that was obviously beyond what should be allowed under the self-defense law. [Korea Times]
The bottom line on self defense in Korea is that if you have to defend yourself, use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you. There have been numerous examples over the years of victims of criminal activities being convicted by a Korean court for defending themselves. The self defense law is even worse for foreigners when the Korean assailant can just lie and the police will likely blame the foreigner for the altercation.
Here are a few examples involving USFK servicemembers:
- The 2006 Dongducheon Taxi Brawl
- 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident
- 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping
- 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl
This all validates my long held advice that foreigners need to swallow their pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans. This is because the odds are high that the police will side with the Korean if the foreigner fights back. Probably the most ironic thing about Korean self defense law is that if you are being raped and don’t fight back enough they will let the rapist go free.
Further Reading:
This is a very serious problem for Americans as we’ve grown up with the right of self defense. And in Korea, it effectively doesn’t exist.
C’est la vie.
In Korea, you have the right to get your ass beat and then have to pay damages too. It’s a messed up situation.
You actually do have the right to reasonable self defense, i.e., you cannot go to town on someone just b/c they looked at you crooked. What the courts will ultimately look at is if your response was commensurate to the provocation. There was an incident a few years ago in Korea where a homeowner killed an intruder in his own home, who was obviously a burglar. Here, the right to self defense did not apply as it was adjudged that his response was not commensurate to the threat. He did get jail time. (A far cry from “stand your ground” and other “castle laws” in states like Florida.)