A lieutenant colonel and a South Korean intelligence sergeant have been accused of repeatedly raping a defected Korean woman, resulting in an abortion.

South Korea's Defense Ministry confirmed on December 5 that the military prosecutor was investigating two soldiers of the Military Intelligence Command (DIC) on charges of raping a defected woman.

The Korean woman filed a complaint against the sergeant Kim and Lieutenant Colonel Sung, both of whom worked at the DIC, for raping her for more than a year. The victim said he defected to South Korea a few years ago and was taken by a police officer to meet two DIC employees.

Kim and Sung are said to regularly meet the escaped woman to perform their duty of protecting them and checking the information they provide. In May last year, Kim was accused of drinking alcohol, causing a woman to fall in love and rape her.

The victim said the sergeant continued to sexually assault her several times, lasting until mid-June this year, causing her to become pregnant twice. Kim is said to have forced the victim to have an abortion both times.

When the situation worsened, the woman asked Lieutenant Colonel Sung, Kim's superior, to intervene. However, Lieutenant Colonel Sung took her to drink and then forced her to have sex at her home in January.

The victim filed a complaint against Kim for rape in October, then continued to accuse both Kim and Sung of abusing power to assault sex. The South Korean Ministry of Defense Criminal Investigation Agency forwarded the files to the military prosecuting agency for prosecution in late November. Both Kim and Sung were suspended from work.

"The victim is a North Korean defector, has no relatives here and does not know who to turn to for help," said Jeon Su-mi, a lawyer from Good Lawyers, a law firm representing the woman. . "She was also intimidated by DIC officers, because they knew so much about her. As a result, the victim was nearly unable to resist their behavior."

South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman Choi Hyun-soo said the two DIC members accused "would be dealt with appropriately depending on the results of the investigation".

More than 72% of the 33,000 defectors from North Korea to South Korea are women. "Many defectors have been sexually abused in China before coming to Korea," a civil rights activist said. "They endured it and thought that they were unclean when they came to Korea."

The Korea Future Initiative, a civil rights organization, said thousands of North Korean women were forced into prostitution in China, many of whom were forced to become sex slaves at least once a year. after leaving home.

"They are not used to speaking out, not being educated about sexual assault and demanding rights. Some people are unaware that sexual assault is a crime," an activist said. The biggest reason why Korean women keep quiet because they prioritize earning a living. "They say they need to survive, need to eat and need to live first," activists said.

According to 2017 data from the National Unification Institute, many North Koreans fleeing have great difficulty in integrating into new society. The average monthly income of Korean defectors in Korea is about 1.9 million won (US $ 1,590), lower than the Korean average of 2.4 million won.