Rotten Mango - #280: The Horrific Korean Boarding School That Abused Disabled Students - Real Life Story Of The Movie “Silenced”

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

The boarding school of nightmares shouldn’t have been open for as long as it was. The Inhwa Boarding School was for students that had mental, physical, and intellectual disabilities. It was nestled in the mountains of South Korea - and it was keeping a dark secret. It was filled with what the students called “perverts.” The perverts would force students into empty classrooms to sexually assault them. The perverts would play movies in class and drag students to the back to assault them in front of their friends. The perverts would play adult films for the students. And if the victims ever got pregnant - they disappeared. The students were beaten into silence. The perverts were the very teachers and administrators that vowed to protect, teach, and serve the students with disabilities. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bramble. In the middle of the night, a 13-year-old girl by the name of Lee, were going to call her Lee. She would sneak out of her dorm room. She lived in this boarding school near the mountains in South Korea, like near the southern tip of South Korea. And it's not just a regular boarding school. The boarding school was strictly for students who had mental, physical, and or intellectual

disabilities. They were always under close watch and supervision, so for her to sneak out at night, it was terrifying. She could hear the crickets, the sound of owls, she could hear her feet pitter patter through the field. She's getting close to the outside school gates. She just needs to get past that and into the parked car. She opens the passenger side and hops in.

This time there's two people in the car. Lee Glance is around to make sure that no teacher, no administrator saw her get in here. She'd be severely punished if she was caught sneaking out to talk to reporters. But worse things have happened in this boarding school. And she was ready to tell the journalist everything. Okay, so it's a known fact, almost like clockwork in this school, especially on the weekends. The students would go to sleep petrified. They would wear as many layers as possible, even in the scorching heat of South Korean summers.

They would pull their blankets up straight up to their neck, sometimes even cover their heads. And they would wait. They can't fall asleep on the weekends. It's almost like you're waiting for a boogie man a ghost to come in. If they're lucky, nothing happens. They wake up sleep deprived. If they're unlucky, they hear the door click open, and someone is heard getting into the beds with the students.

Most of the times, all you heard were muffled police for help. He usually put a pillow over their heads. Everyone in the dorm rooms knows what's happening. They all know who it is. They all know they can't dare say a single word. Instead, they all pretend to be asleep, praying that they're not next. But it was interesting night or just in the dorms. She told the journalist about how much the kids hated something called movie time. Certain teachers would turn on movies for the whole class and the teacher would sit in the very, very back in the shadows, call over two to three female students to sit in the back with him

and he would assault them in front of a classroom full of students. And nobody ever tried to tell the parents or anyone what happened? She said, well, he threatened to kill us. So it's just that one teacher, the one that plays the movies, or is he the same one that syncs into the dorm rooms? No, there's more. There's one we call the pervert. When we see him walk down the hallway, we avoid eye contact.

If the pervert catches you, it's too late. He caught him in. Hemmin was a deaf student in the school. She was called into the pervert's office, and she didn't know why the pervert would want to see her. All she knew was that nothing good ever happens in the perverts office. But she had no reason not to go. She literally lives here, no legitimate excuse that she can use.

So she went. And when she walked into the office, she's facing away from the dorm. The pervert walks behind her and ever so slowly turns the door knob and gently closes the door. And click. He locked it. But because him in was deaf, she didn't hear a thing. She was turned, facing away from him, so she didn't see it. She had no idea that he was trapping her.

And then boom, he turned off the lights. It's pitch black. She could feel her breathing going faster as her eyes are just trying to adjust to the dark. There is a tiny little TV in the corner that she hadn't really noticed before, but now that it's dark, it's the only source of light. So she's squinting. There was a disgusting adult film that was playing on there. And she whipped around and her determination was to just run out the door, right?

Doesn't matter, just run out. And there she saw him blocking the door. The principal's standing, pants at his ankles, fully masturbating and staring straight at her. He's the principal? The pervert is the principal. And she would not escape his office unscathed. The student glanced out the car window and told them another story.

A friend of hers had been lured into one of the teacher's offices. They ambushed her there, hog tied her, restrained her in five different places. She was gagged. A few of the teachers they assaulted her for almost 15 hours. She was gone the whole day, and then afterwards a lesson, quote, lesson, they left her tied up after the abuse. She knew that there was nobody she could tell that would help. I mean, we know that the police are working with the teachers.

There would be no point. She had no choice but to go back to her dorm and try to pretend like none of this ever happened. But there were other rumors too. When students would get pregnant, they would disappear. What do you mean they would disappear? We don't know, but one student was feeling morning sickness. She didn't have a period in like three months.

She was pregnant. She started to show. One day, we went to check up on her in her dorm room because she didn't make it to class. She wasn't feeling great. Her dorm was empty. She was gone. All of her belongings were gone. We never heard from her again. But that's not all. In the darkness of the car, the student told the journalist everything in a series of secret meetings,

how they were starved. They would be forced to gather around for dinner and eat scraps of food that were left over from lunch, like teachers' food scraps. They were basically fighting for food in like a pit. There were rumors about a girl that had starved to death because she was so hungry, she ate wallpaper. And when she fell ill from eating wallpaper because think of all the toxic substances in the glue and the paper itself, one of the teachers pushed her off the roof to make

her family believe that it was her decision. These are the terrifying stories from Inwa boarding school for the disabled. It would inspire a movie called The Silence. And this movie resulted in a public abroad that would change South Korea as a nation. And I don't put that lightly. Like South Korean law was forever changed because of this movie. So let's get into it.

As always, full show notes are available at rottenminglepodcast.com. There is a fictionalized book on this case. Well, it's loosely fictionalized. So much of the abuse reported in the book is pretty play by play of what the victims of stated have happened. The book is called The Crucible, written by Kong Ji-young. One of the most prominent respected female writers in Korea

and it is what many South Koreans consider the most horrific read You can never pick up and the thing about the novel is there was an investigator who worked on this case and said yeah, the novel probably covered 25 to 30% of what really happened, but probably due to public well-being concerns and publishers legal, you know, rights I don't think that she could have ever published a hundred percent of what happened There was the movie the 2011 Silence movie that was inspired by the book. It's often referred to the movie that changed South Korea Because I think a lot of Koreans they knew that it was a drama They knew that it was sad. They knew it was gonna be emotional

They went into theaters thinking this is how I'm gonna spend my Friday night This is how I'm gonna hang out for the weekend People said when they came out They couldn't breathe It was like there was a 50 pound dumbbell on their chest and I think maybe it's also When you watch something in a big group of people there's kind of this energy that feeds off of each other People said they should be categorized as the worst horror movie ever. It's that bad. Since this is a South Korean case, we had multiple Korean researchers assist in the gathering of the facts and a big warning. Today's story

deals with a lot of children with disabilities, quite literally the most vulnerable population of society. It's not a happy story. It's pretty hard to get through and it hasn't even more depressing end to it all. So if you're not in a good mood, if you're not in a good headspace today, I recommend turning this video off and maybe reading a book instead. So with that being said, Kim Ho Sung, he kind of had a creepy job. His job was to wake up at the crack of dawn, drive around in the foggy morning picking up students. Then he would drop them off at school.

Being a bus driver isn't creepy and the kids aren't creepy, but there was just something about that boarding school. So it's a boarding school where most of the kids, they live their full time, but there were still a few that commute it, so he would pick up the commuters. The school was nestled at the bottom of a mountain, and it just looked, it looked like there was a perpetual cloud of fog looming over the place. And he would see the other students that lived at the school and just something about them, the way that they would walk around the school campus in the mornings when he came to pull

up with the commuters. It's as if they were empty shells of ghosts. It's like he was pulling up to a zombie school. They weren't having fun. They weren't running around full of morning energy. They were zombies. There were probably moments even jokes with his family. Hey, maybe the school is haunted and those are all ghosts in a I'm the only one that sees them. That's how like kids are acting. There's crazy. Maybe it's not even a boarding school. Maybe all the students that I bring, that's it. It's very creepy. The only reason he kept the job was. The kids really liked him.

They really loved him. He was like a grandpa. They were so comfortable around him. He wanted to see their journey through, through the school years. Sometimes he would open the door. A kid would step in, smile and wave. And as the sleeve of their shirt lifted up, he would see a bruise or multiple bruises. And the first time he saw it on a kid,

he would lock eyes with the kid and smile. He wouldn't say anything because, you know, maybe kids are tough players. Maybe they got too excited at the playground. But the second time he saw it, he would try and approach it as gently as possible. What happened to your wrist? He thought, maybe it's a parent, you know?

But they would smile cheaply and a friend would buddend. Oh, he forgot his homework so the teacher punished him. Who's on the didn't like the sound of that? Okay, so teachers physically disciplining students in South Korea hadn't been outlawed at this point, but to leave actual bruises, that's going a bit too far usually. He tried his best to be happy for the kids because it didn't seem like the teachers were that happy It didn't seem like the boarding school kids were that happy the physical punishment Usually they asked you to put your hands up and they will spank you with a ruler

Yeah, so it's not like like punching you leaving bruises not that kind of physical. Yeah, yeah, it's usually like Like yeah, this is back in the days. Yes, thank your palm and tie yeah, or the back of your legs It's not like they're just throwing you around jumping you with a gang of teachers. I mean, but there have been instances of that. And I think that's why it's been out loud in South Korea. But yeah, it was supposed to be disciplinary action. So this is why he's very confused.

The bus driver is like, that's not normal to have any bruises left on his student because he forgot his homework. That's abuse. So that's not even disciplinary action, right? So he makes sure that he's the happiest part of the kids' days. The shy ones would get on the bus and he would try to bring them out of their shells like, okay, well, how is your day?

Would you guys do? He remembered how he was driving. He was having a conversation with one of the female students in the front row. And she was telling him about her day at school. Her tone was very relaxed, casual. And she said, for lunch I had more Korean food, and then the teacher touched me down there

because I forgot my homework. And then, oh, I think I had geography class right after. His hands gripped the staring wheel, and he glanced in the rear-view mirror, and the little girl is just smiling at him, telling him what happened as if Because she's a kid. How older these students like so okay So this is from elementary to high school this boarding school because it's a school for the disabled There was not it's not like really a high school. Yeah, yeah, so I think she was like 10

Yeah, of course, she has no idea that this is wrong nobody taught her that and that's not her fault, right? And she's just smiling telling this is wrong, nobody taught her that, and that's not her fault, right? And she's just smiling, telling this story because she's that young. He didn't want to push her too much. He was worried that he would cause her to close up or think that she was in trouble, so he tried to keep his tone light. Oh, a teacher? Touch her too! Where? In my pants, like near my potty parts. The little girl got distracted with her friends, and that night the bus driver went home and he was pacing his living room.

Sometimes you want to scream like, okay, well, bus driver do something, right? But I had to keep reminding myself that this is a completely different time from today. There was no social media. There was really no police that cared unless there was social media pressuring them to care. And the media didn't care unless they were guaranteed clicks. Who was this bus driver to go up against an entire school accusing one of the teachers that he didn't even know which one.

And I wonder if this is also, he said, lightly hurt. Yeah. And he had kids and a wife. And he had so much pressure. This is really the only job he had. And I know people are going to be like, thank you at a new job, right? Why would you even want to work under these people?

South Korea is very different from the US. So in the US, you could get fired from a job. And if your next boss calls your old boss and they start badmouthing you, you could technically sue your old boss. The employee protection laws are a lot stronger here. In South Korea, if you get fired from a job, you're effectively blacklisted. It doesn in South Korea if you get fired from a job you're effectively back blacklisted

It doesn't even matter if you were fired because you were too good at your job Doesn't matter if you were oh sorry. I was late dropping off the kids. I Was trying to help this old lady that was having a seizure on the side of the road It doesn't matter you're blacklisted So the bus driver knew that he's at the bottom of the totem pole. The people doing this are probably at the top, a teacher and an administrator he doesn't even know which one. If he stands up against them right now, he would get fired. And then what? And then they would replace him with a new bus driver who's to say the new bus driver is an predator.

No, he had to stay where he was to at least try and protect the kids. But his job is done once he drops them off. He can't sit in class with them to protect them. He knew the smartest thing to do was to keep his mouth shut for the sake of his own kids, but he just couldn't do it. The next day, he went straight up to the head of administration, which is AK, the vice principal, and he told him everything he heard from that little girl.

And I don't know what the bus driver was expecting. Maybe nothing would get done, right? But at least he's expecting, okay, the vice principal is gonna put on this show and at least they would pretend to look shocked and like, oh my God, outraged. And then promise him change and they're gonna do an internal investigation, right?

The vice principal looked at him and smirked. You're a bus driver, right? So just fucking drive. Ooh, the implication being keep silent and do your job and don't stick your head in what's not your business. The bus driver knew if this is how they're reacting to these accusations, he needed more to take down the abusers. So every day, the bus driver became a spy. He had never signed up for this. He was just a bus driver, but here he was.

The minute the kids were on the bus, he would smile, and he would try to nicely, as untrammatically as possible, ask about any abuse that they encountered at the hands of teachers. When he dropped them off at school, he would look to the left and then to the right, and when the coast was clear, he would stay parked in his bus,

pull out his black spiral notebook. He started furiously writing down every single detail he remembered. He didn't want to forget a single thing about what any of the kids said. And he would date it. He kept every single entry. He kept comprehensive records every single day for 20 years. He had stacks and stacks of black journals preserved in his home in his closet. And every time he and his family would walk past it, it would catch their eye. And it's

just like, it's just like this dark energy that's just radiating off these journals. Some of the journal entries talked about the art teacher. The art teacher would force female students up to the second classroom, second floor classrooms, where it was empty. He would strip them naked, so he could draw them. These were like 10-year-old girls. Sometimes he did more than just draw. The story of So-young was also in his black journal. She was in the sixth grade when it happened her.

Remember how he talked to the vice principal? So-young was called into the vice principal's office after school because her grades were too low. And she watched all the other students gather their things, head backs to the dorm rooms, and she made her way to the vice principal's office. She's thinking, okay, it's going to be miserable, maybe like an hour or two of extra super vice study time, or maybe it was just yell at her and call it a day. But when she stepped into the office, she stood in front of the desk

with her head bowed. She watched as he walked behind her, closed the door, locked it, and he prances up behind her and starts gropeing her. Enter your member screaming, please somebody help me, but he just whispered, shut your mouth and be quiet. He started hugging her until it escalated to a full incident of the artwork. She was in the sixth grade. This was in the Vice Principal's office. She said it hurt so much she had tears streaming down her face and after he was done he tossed two one-dollar bills on the ground next to her. Song Young didn't live in the dorm, so she walked all the way home,

and the two dollars could barely buy her a cup of noodles from the convenience store. And I think it's not about the money. I don't think any amount of money would have justified what happened to her or made it okay, but it's almost a measly amount of money is worse, more degrading than no money.

The next... Like the thought that he thought this is gonna mean anything. Yeah. To her. Yeah. And the thought that he thought, that's enough, yeah. That's what she's worth. It's basically what he's insinuating.

The next day, she went to the principal and begged him to do something about the incident. And she's like, please, this is what happened with the vice principal, you're his boss, you're the principal. This is what he did to me. And the principal looked at her and said, you know, so you're his boss, you're the principal. This is what he did to me. And the principal looked at our inside. You know, so you're almost about to be in the seventh grade, right? That's what becoming an adult is. You need to try and be the bigger person and show him some grace and just forgive him

just this once. If he does it again, then I can discipline him, okay? But how about you learn to be an adult and learn some forgiveness? So Young was awarded three or four more times during her time at Aidema boarding school. The stories in these journals were terrifying, and the bus driver didn't stop trying. It's not like he just sat there day and day out, writing down the most horrific accounts of abuse and going home and doing nothing. He tried to bring it up at the company dinner.

So they have Leia Sheiks in Korea, which is basically your force to work after hours. You get invited by all your coworkers, your colleagues, your bosses, and you sit there drinking as much as your boss wants you to drink and kissing their butts. And then acting like you love it here. OK, that's basically what it is. The bus driver is invited, and it's pretty well known

that absolutely not in a million years as long as you want to keep your job you cannot say no. So it goes to the dinner. Everyone's getting drunk, you know, because the administrators, they keep pouring soju into everyone's glasses. Now another thing to add is I don't think the bus driver could just go to the police. If that's how he's being treated by his employers, think about how he must have been treated his whole life as a bus driver. He probably has no educational background. He probably doesn't feel like he has any social power. In Korea, back then, the social hierarchies even worse.

So if you're at the bottom of the chain, we know that Korea, especially back then, they only take anything serious if it comes from an influential or wealthy family or person. Anyone below, they can just disregard you completely. For example, let's say you work for a massive corporation and you're like the executive of, you're the vice president of that company. You throw out allegations of essay, they still won't take you seriously.

Think about how a bus driver feels. He's not a teacher, he's not an executive, he's not an administrator, why would they take his word? Why would they believe him and a bunch of students that, you know, back in the day in creatives always, oh kids don't know what they're talking about. Kids just say, the darnest things. So he thought this was his chance. The bus driver never really got to interact with other teachers.

He's thinking, okay, the vice principal shut me down, the administrator shut me down, but maybe if I get a teacher with a college degree and intellectual background, these teachers must be even more connected to the kids than me because they see the kids nonstop. I only see them when I drop them off, right? It's not like I can hang out in the break rooms. So he quietly spoke to a teacher in front of him.

While everybody else was drunk and rowdy, he's quietly spoke to a teacher in front of him. While everybody else was drunk and rowdy, he's like whispering to this teacher about the things that he heard on the bus, and he's thinking, okay, though he shakes about to go down. This teacher is probably going to finish listening to him and freak the fork out on the administrators and it's going to be a whole thing. He didn't realize the teacher he was talking to was one of the molesters. Instead of even trying to play off his crimes, it's like, oh, I didn't know that oh my god, I'm gonna talk to the principal tomorrow. The teacher picked up one of those. So in Korea, we drink soup out of like earthenware bowls. They're

made out of really heavy stone. It's basically a pot. You can put it on the stove. It's like a twerp salt peeping bubble, right? I would imagine it's maybe 50 times thicker than a regular bowl. Yeah, it's like a piece of rock, right? Yeah, it's like a cast iron. He picked it up, drank his soup, and hit the bus driver's head with the heavy bowl. Blood started dripping down his face and onto the table. They had to call an ambulance. It was that bad. And before he got on the ambulance, they basically told him, say a word and we'll kill you. He learned that he could never speak out. And at this point, the faculty had verbally physically abused him for trying to protect the students. So he focused on maybe one day. He could be the voice of the students. He wrote down every single story, every event he logged it all. The dedication and accuracy of his logs would be a great help to prosecutors later.

But you can't help but wonder, maybe things could have been different, had just one teacher listened, and maybe there was one. Teacher J. We're gonna call him Teacher J because the legal battle later gets so freaking messy, but if you've seen the movie, he's the main character. And his story is based off real life events. So Teacher J started his teaching career in 2005, which something to note, being a teacher in South Korea is a very impressive position.

Not that it's not impressive anywhere else in the world. We freaking love teachers. But unlike here, teachers in South Korea, they actually get paid pretty well. They have job stability. It's a really desired position. Once you get in, unless you get fired, it's really hard to just like move through the ring. Like you just, once you get in, you have job security

is what I'm trying to say. But it's the getting in part. That's a little bit difficult. Mr. J's dream job was actually a position that not a lot of other teachers wanted. He wanted to work in a school for the disabled. He understood it would probably take more patients, more love, more compassion to work with disabled students,

but he wanted that, like, why not? He wanted to be a capable teacher that was worthy of teaching the vulnerable population. It should be a privilege. It felt like his calling in life, especially because he himself had a disability. He also knew sign language, so he would be using all of his skills to his advantage. And so the first day at Inwa, he expected a really hectic day. I mean, think about it, you're working with kids. He's thinking, okay, I've worked with kids before it. It's a handful. He's prepping himself for kids.

They're gonna be running around screaming, being goofballs while he's trying to get them to settle down. Oh man, after recess, they're gonna have all that adrenaline from running, so then he's gotta tone it down. He's gonna be running around trying to understand all of his colleagues, which ones are nice, which ones are gonna steal his lunch.

He's expecting all of that. But when he walks into his first class, it was like walking into a funeral. These kids weren't acting like kids. They weren't even just well behaved, they kind of looked like they wanted to melt into the wall. Like they were trying to be invisible. None of them even wanted to be seen by him.

It was weird. At first he thought, okay, well maybe I'm new here. Maybe they need to learn that they can trust me, right? But then the surprises just kept coming. Mr. J was shocked to find out that in the school that was quite literally built for the deaf and mute. He was the only one in the faculty on his floor that new sign language. Okay, you would think because it's a state-funded program the government pays for this school. For boarding school with students with varying levels of oral and auditory capabilities, the bare minimum requirement for teachers would be that they know sign language,

so they can, I don't know, teach the kids, communicate with the kids. Another thing was, Mr. J got to go home after classes. So most of the teachers, they didn't live at the school. But most of the students did, they never left, not even on weekends. And yet so much of the faculty didn't know sign language, like what if a student had emergency in the middle of the weekend? How could they communicate with people that don't know sign language? And so many of them were sitting in the classrooms with bruises peaking out from under their shirts. Had this not been a boarding school, he might have assumed that the students

were being abused at home. But they were here, in the school, all the time. Maybe they're so calm because they play really rough at recess, and they let out all their energy, right? He's trying to rationalize all these different explanations in his mind. And very quickly, there was just something

that he couldn't ignore. A parent rushed into his class one day, fuming. My son said one of the female students at the school was being molested by a teacher. Mr. J's eyes are bulging out of his head. I'm sorry. What did you just say? I asked my son if he was sure, and he said that he was positive. He speaks sign language, and I know that you are one of the teachers that too. So I need you to talk to him. I want the teacher punished. Mr. J brought in the parent's son and the three sat down and Mr. J asked, okay, tell me what happened.

It's okay. Did your friend get touched in places, strangers shouldn't touch her? The student looked terrified and his eyes were wide and he slowly nodded yes. And then he rolled up his sleeves and there was bruising all up and down his arms. He glanced around, because, you know, in South Korea,

I don't know if you guys can picture the classrooms, but there's these giant windows. It's not like America where it's like concrete walls and then a door with a window. There is like giant windows into the hallway. You watch a K-drama of high school, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's making sure that there's no teacher walking

by no administrators, and he keeps his hands as close to his body as he can, and in the smallest motions possible, he's quickly signing. It's almost like he's hiding. I'm not the only one. Mr. J. watched as this student. This literal child was signing as fast as he could, just listing off the most horrific abuse that Mr. J. had ever heard of. His eyes

were watering, but he can't even look away. He had to listen to every single thing that this student had to say, and the student continued, I'm not the only one with the bruises. The teachers always beat us, and it doesn't matter what they do, they'll beat us. My friend wasn't the only one that was touched by teachers either. There's a lot more. The others. Why didn't you guys ask for help? Why didn't anyone say anything? We tried. Every time we asked teachers for help, we just got sent away or punished even more. If any of us tried telling people outside the school, they would beat us or they would try and touch us.

How did you find that that your friend was? She was walking weird and I asked her if she was sick. But she told me that she was our worded. A man with glasses are worded her and I was so surprised. Mr. J got up and went to grab the friend that this kid was referring to and let's call her Yujin. Yujin was only 10 years old and because both of her parents lived with mental disabilities, her parents thought that the best thing that they could ever do for their kid was to send her to this boarding school.

These are not parents that didn't want her. These are not parents that are like, I'm so busy with work. I don't want to spend the weekends with you. They genuinely thought if when they were growing up with their disabilities, if there had been such a thing for students with disabilities, they felt like they would have a chance at a normal life. So this was Eugene's chance. She would be surrounded by students like her. She would have a community, a place to fit in, and that makes this situation even more infuriating. To her parents, this school was like a beacon of hope. And now she's shaking in her chair as this new teacher is signing to her. Did he? And she told him, yes, I'm sure that he did. He made me bend down and he pulled my pants down.

Yes, I'm sure that he did. He made me bend down and he pulled my pants down. And afterwards, he cleaned everything up with paper towels, and he gave me a cup of Coke to drink. The man with the glasses? Which one? And right at that time, she pointed at the perpetrator. It wasn't Mr. J's colleague. It wasn't a teacher.

It was none other than the vice principal. One of the top dogs in the entire boarding school, and Mr. Jay could feel his chest moving up and down rapidly. Like, he had to be smart about this. He can't just confront the guy. If he is the vice principal, he is more authority than teacher Jay. He could easily cover it up or shut him up. Teacher Jay stormed into the nurse's office, told her everything. Like, did you know about this? We need to get some evidence, like some medical evidence on these students if they're being abused like this.

She boards here. You didn't live here. So obviously, she would have come here if she felt ill and she was very ill because she couldn't even walk properly to the point where her friends noticed. And Teacher J is like holding back at his tears. This is a 10 year old we're talking about. A 10 year old with disabilities that was so excited to be at their school

because for the first time in her life, she felt like there was hope. And he's on the verge of breaking down. And this is the terrifying part. The nurse's face is stone-cold. I'll look into it. What? What do you mean you'll look into it? I said I'll look into it, teacher

Jay. And that was that. The tone, the dismissal. I mean, honestly, it felt like the nurse was dismissing all concerns and probably knew what was going on. Mr. Jay thought, fine, if she's not going to help me, I'm going to march down here with all the other teachers until she finally listens. When he told a few of the other teachers on his floor, they all avoided eye contact and they were glancing at the walls. I mean, how are you guys okay with this? Did you not hear me? Do I need to repeat myself? One of them she blishly responded, yeah, but what can we do about it, right? Mr. J

feels like he's losing his freaking mind. Why is he the only one shocked at what's going on? Why does it feel like everyone is gaslighting him into believing that this happens at every school? It all goes back to the Inwa Mafia. That's what everyone calls it. So let me give you the rundown on the Inwa boarding school. Even though this is a state government funded program It was run straight up like a mafia. That's what the press would later dub the administrators of this school, the in-wa mafia. At the top of the food chain is the in-wa family. One family runs the entire school. The dad of the family is the chairman. The wife, the mom of the family is the co-chairman. The first

son is the principal. The second son is the vice principal. The third son is the art teacher that likes to draw nude photos. Their niece is the director of Student Affairs. Their brother-in-law is this. Everyone at the top, that's not a regular, smuggler teacher, was part of the family. That's why they feel like they can do whatever. And nobody can even say a thing. Not a thing. The family ran the school. There was no checks and balances because, sure, if the head of administration does something wrong, thing. The family ran the school. There was no checks and balances, because sure, if the head of administration does something wrong, you can report it to the principal.

But would you still report it if you knew they were brothers? Probably not. OK, but what if the teachers got together to protest what's going on? Korea itself has a hierarchical society, has a hierarchy, and just embedded into society. And it's very different from the US, where technically, you have a hierarchy, you're like into society and it's very different from the US where technically you have a hierarchy You're like, okay, there's a manager there's an assistant manager. There's the employee

It's nearly impossible to speak out against your boss So what happens is a lot of Korean companies don't like to hire people That disrupt business even if you're doing the right thing, if it's disrupting business, you're not a good employee. Bringing up allegations of abuse has often been considered making waves, which is crazy. Okay, I'm not saying this is proper or right, I'm giving you context, this is crazy.

Okay, it's considered making waves. And if you get fired, you'd be blacklisted from the industry. Your next employer won't care that you were sticking up for vulnerable students who were being abused. They will see you as someone who causes problems. And remember how I said teaching is a pretty prestigious career in Korea? Because of that, a lot of people want to become a teacher, which means there's not enough open positions. A lot of teachers at Inwa ended up there because they had no other option. And the family knew that. They exploited that.

They would often force teachers to pay for their spot. This is so legal. Essentially, if you don't want me to fire you and replace you with someone else next semester, give me 10% of your paycheck back. The teachers were so terrified of the Inua family, they would bring them gifts every week. This is so bizarre. But every week they were expected to bring the family gifts. And if they didn't, their names would be written on the whiteboard in the office room, kind of like, hey, we know you didn't gift us anything this week. And also, we're gonna publicly shame you.

Even during Chuseok, which is like Thanksgiving, typically Koreans might bow to the floor to show respect. This is the ultimate bows. So you know how Koreans eat and chat? They say hello and they go, yeah, yeah, right? the ultimate bow that I've only done a few times in my life primarily to family like my aunts, uncles, my parents. You get on your knees, your hands touch the ground and your forehead touches the floor. This is the ultimate sign of gratitude, respect. Like you do this for people who have given their lives to raise you. You do this maybe for if you're religious, right?

For people that have genuinely saved you, made you who you are. You don't do this for an employer. The teachers were expected to bow to the family during special holidays. Okay, get it. There's a hierarchy in Korea, but this is bizarre. Like if you told any Korean that they'd be like, are you out of your mind? Like have you lost your marbles? What are you talking about?

Most of the teachers at In-wa, they had their own families, they had their own loved ones with medical bills, they had their own futures to look out for. Most of them, I will give it to most of the teachers, had no idea what was going on. Remember, a good portion of them don't speak sign language. The teachers don't live on campus, they go home at the end of the day.

The ones that lived on campus with the kids, they were mainly part of the administration. Side ones that lived on campus with the kids, they were mainly part of the administration. Side note, the family does have their own home, the Inua family, but I think they took turns and they would have a few different teachers that would stay during the weekends and the nights, but just keep that in mind. But for the teachers that did know and did nothing, I know where it's. And so much of the abuse seemed like it was on a scheduled basis, especially on the weekends when most of the teachers were gone. The vice principal would come into the dorm rooms.

He would play music really loudly on speakers and assault the students. One victim said, he forcefully kissed me so I got angry and I kicked him and I told him to get off so he slapped me. And it wasn't just him, it seemed like everyone was in on it. The principal, the older brother, he was in on it. He was actually called the pervert by the students. His favorite thing was to make us watch adult films with him. I don't know if every single family member are part of the Inua family

participated in the abuse or if it was just the sons, but I can't imagine that the parents don't know. I can't imagine that the co-chairman, the wife didn't know. I feel like they knew. Even the nurses were in on it. So there was another nurse at the school who helped forge medical records of the students when the administrators, the predators, needed it. This is wild.

So, a predator assaulted a student and then dragged her to get a nurse check-up to prove that she had no recent sexual activity. Like what a non-thing to do, right? It's even more suspicious than not doing anything at all. But he dragged her there and demanded a physical check-up on her private parts. And I don't know what kind of school nurse does these types of check-ups, but the parents were not alerted. They did not give parental approval.

The nurse did the quote exam and stated that there was a tear in the hymen. Now, side note, that's not really proof that she was our worded because hymen's can tear or break from even riding a bike. But the nurse initially wrote in a report that there was a tear. Now, that doesn't prove if she did or didn't have sexual encounters. That's what the nurse wrote. And then mysteriously, the document was updated by the nurse. The administrators clearly didn't like this.

The did or didn't lingo. It's too confusing. Did it or did it not happen? The nurse changed it to read, and my professional opinion, I'm 100% uncertain that no sexual act was committed. Technically, you can't tell as a medical professional. So we could bring in the argument

that the nurse was bribed or threatened into adding that, but my personal speculative opinion is that he full well knew what he was doing. A teacher brings in a young student in for a vaginal examination and the parents and guardians are not present and the teacher is un allegedly unhappy with the inconclusiveness of the exam. You're telling me you don't know. It's really not hard to put the pieces together. Another thing that makes this extra horrendous is remember how it's a state funded school. It's funded by the government. They get paid for the number of students who attend.

The more students there, the more money the family makes. More students to abuse and more money. Not only were the Inua family abusers just disgusting, they were really greedy. Technically, the school is a charity, and they constantly accept adonations from the public. People wanted to donate clothes, art supplies, books, whatever it may be. And what the school does reminds me of, you know, those really shady charity stories that come out once in a while about corrupt charities where you have all the charity organizers pocketing the money and just marketing to you basically. They show you a picture of this new state-of-the-art facility for sheltered dogs and then you realize it's fake that 90% of the dogs

that they rescue are kept in horrendous conditions that you will never see. This is like a set for ads they say. It's like that at Inua. The teachers would take all the donated shirts, do photo shoots with the students, rip it off of them, and sell these used shirts for cash. Like, they would make pennies on the dollar. They weren't even selling it for much. It's not like people are donating D or shirts. People are donating just worn out shirts. That's how greedy they were. Every single penny they refused to give it to the people that they're making money from. Like, it couldn't even be assured.

They would even sell art supplies, used school supplies like three ring binders they would sell it instead of give it to the students. So the family would do anything to protect their status and their positions. Mr. J was going up against what felt like a mountainous tallest mountain Everest. But he was willing to do anything to protect these kids.

He didn't care if nobody stood behind him, if the nurses and the other teachers wouldn't listen, the next step was the police. So he went to the local police station after work one day, and the police listened intently as he's telling a story of what he had heard. They listened, but it didn't seem like they were taking any notes. Any question? Why aren't you guys writing this all down? When he was done, the police doubted if the students could even communicate clearly

what did or didn't happen to them. How do you know it's not just miscommunication? What are you saying? Just because some of the students are deaf or mute? Are you serious right now? The police did contact the victim's parents and they asked the victim's parents to get all the evidence, to go gather all the evidence of the abuse so that they can maybe feel inspired to do their damn jobs. When the parents would try and argue the police should be doing that, how are they going to walk in and look for evidence in their school? The police would casually just state, well then I think this is a case for the Child Services Department and not us.

You should take your complaints there. CSD would send them back to the police. Everyone kept bouncing the case around because it quote wasn't their jurisdiction. It just reminds me so much of this how our fairy case, nobody wanted to do their job. Nobody wanted to be accountable for anything. The police were assholes and and they were super ableist. This particular police station avoided dealing

with sexual crimes against people with disabilities, not even just minors, everyone with disabilities. These officers felt like people with disabilities were untrustworthy. Wow. They said they always changed their stories. They stated, if they have a mental disability, how can they remember correctly?

Their job is to protect and serve the population, and here they are essentially allowing crimes against one of the most vulnerable groups of people. These officers are just as bad as the predators. So the teachers wouldn't listen, the school wouldn't listen, the police wouldn't listen, and Mr. J had one option left, and it was going to ruin his career

and almost potentially ruin his entire life. He went to the media. He called the local news, the media outlets. He said he had insider information on one of the biggest child sexual assault scandals inside of a school for disabled students. He worked closely with the network, NBC, and together they were able to gather nine victims

that were willing to speak up about what happened to them. I believe a few of them had graduated, but most of them were current students, and I can't emphasize enough how brave these students are. Keep in mind, a lot of these kids live full-time on campus. They all have some degree of hearing, speaking, or mental impairment, and a good majority of the kids had the mental functioning level of a toddler. The teachers knew that. They used it to their advantage.

These kids were in the complete control of the authority figures, and they were well aware of this. They were well aware that they had no power. It was them up against an entire school of wealthy elite people, social power, and connections, and all the tools available to communicate what they believed happened and they still agreed to put their lives on the line essentially. Many of the perpetrators were out in the open once the documentary aired. So NBC aired this whole documentary about all the crimes inside the In-Wa School.

Now I will say that this documentary wasn't that explosive. People who cared cared, people who didn't care didn't care. It's not like the movie. I think if this documentary came out today, it would be a whole thing. But back in the day, people were just like, well, we don't really know, and it's not really our business. And I'm not even from that part of town. How would I know?

And can we really go on a crusade? How would we even organize something like that? Many of the perpetrators, their names were out in the open in the documentary for the world to see and the crazy thing is they had no shame. The vice principal, one of the more heinous abusers inside that entire administration, opened the door to his home for documentary makers

and let them into the house. He was wearing nothing but his underwear. He sat down on his living room floor. As if these are just family friends coming over to play poker. He's wearing underwear only? Yeah. So they came over when he wasn't working

and he's like, yeah, yeah, come in. He doesn't even go and get changed. He doesn't even tell the intercom, hold on. I gotta go put on some clothes. And he knows what they're here for. These journalists aren't lying. They're not like, hey, we're here to deliver a chair. They're like, we are the NBC producers. We want to talk to you about this case. So it's not only that he doesn't, he doesn't even care.

He doesn't even think this is going to affect how he looks. So he doesn't even try to look serious or anything. Yeah. He doesn't try to act shocked, serious or hurt. He just lets the men and says, just by listening to the kids so-called stories like how can you guys take this seriously? How can you come over here and give us all a freaking headache over some hearsay? So he's saying that the story is false and that the victims are liars Not exactly he continues. Well the nurses did it to the teachers were constantly abusing the kids Oh my god that there's this one teacher. I forget his name.

He stopped working there. Quang is something, okay? He did it. You should ask him. I mean, even if the parents filed a complaint, nothing happened. So, what do you want us to do? The kids have nowhere else to go. We're the ones taking them in.

I know. You look so confused. I was so confused. And I was like, oh, maybe this is like a translation mistake, because I don't understand, you look so confused. I was so confused and I was like, oh, maybe this is like a translation mistake because I don't understand the thought process. But he's basically saying in a whiny tone as if the kids have nowhere else to go and being stuck there to be abused somehow makes it better.

Like, it's almost like a, you're welcome we're even taking them in. So what, it's not perfect. At least we're taking them in. No one else wants to take them in. I truly don't know what's going on with the brain chemistry, but something is clearly not right. Another incident released it out to me. Um, the vice principal again later was interviewed by NBC and he bluntly audaciously told them. I already filed all the claims. I'm sorry, excuse me, what claims?

For false allegations? It's not even arguable story, really, but they made it all up. I was so shocked when the students lied. I mean, how could they do that to me? How could they do that to me? When I talk to the students, I was always encouraging. I always had good intentions. They were always starved for love. If my sin is being too nice and too kind, then fine, that's my sin.

This is all so ridiculous. So now you're saying you never committed any crimes? Yep, never did. So where did God? Side note, at this point, the principal's wife, so the vice principal's sister-in-law, comes out and is like, oh my God, you guys again. What's wrong with you guys? The case is over.

He resigned. So the vice principal had resigned after the documentary. He resigned, okay, get over it. Wow. And the vice principal pulled out a letter and said, see, I told you guys, I wasn't lying. He pulled out a paper and held it for the producers, like a proud little rat. Like, I don't know how else to describe him. I'm sorry. But he's like showing it off this piece of paper. And it reads, Eugene, one of the victims, did not have sex with the head of administration.

That's literally what it reads, and she signed it, along with six other signatures of students that were witnesses and guarantors. Ignoring the fact that minor signatures are not legally binding, this is so messed up for so many reasons. Can you imagine the amount of fear

that Eugene went through when he are worded her? And now the are worder is pressuring her into signing this document, and the fact that she still had to see him she still had to talk to him she's 11 but he claimed he didn't pressure her at all he said I just very nicely asked her why she said the things that she said and she admitted to me that Mr. J forced her to lie you know these are like the worst people these kids kids need more love and attention. So they don't even treat them with that.

They don't even treat them as equals. They already have a view point of these kids. And then they took advantage of it and started a school just so they can take advantage, yeah, make money off them. So their intention from day one, like just the way they see them is already the worst type of person should be being near them

And they just took advantage of them and started school for this reason So I don't think they started this for the right reason. They started this for this evil reasons. Oh, yeah to make money To take advantage of them. Yeah, and then they're like, oh, well, we're also predators So this is great. Yeah, and they're saying no no, we are at least doing a good thing, guys. I don't even know what to say. I mean, it's obvious that they are just monsters in all of this, and the fact that they made a bunch of kids sign a document.

And I think it's also the audacity that he's holding up this piece of paper like I told you so. What are you talking about? Like no one in the court of law is gonna say, oh my God, that victim that's so scared of you I guess that is a pretty legal piece of document He says I even have a video recording of her admitting that it was all lies Thankfully producers went to find someone else that was at that quote meeting and they're all a bunch of kids

One of you didn't find said that the room there was so much pressure They kept telling you didn't tell me the truth, tell me the truth, and they suddenly got angry and started to hit you, didn't. She told them the truth, and they said, no, that's not what we want you to say. They wanted her to deny that the artwork ever happened. They said that they will be so nice to her if she said so. I thought something was wrong

because if they don't have any sins, why would they need to hit us? So even after that, the student doesn't really understand what was happening. They know it's wrong, they know that the administrators bullying Eugene is wrong, but they don't really, they can't, they're too young to grasp the concept of why they're even doing that. So it's not a moment of these students being like, see, they're trying to get us to change our story because they're in trouble. It's a moment for students being like, wait, no, but this is the truth, so now it's so

weird and confusing and we don't understand what's going on. It was later revealed that the administrators convinced older students to literally water board victims and witnesses if they were talking to the bus. Literally water board. Take them to the laundry room and water board them. Thankfully, even if you didn't have to formally recant her statement later in the trial because of this coerce letter, it was just too iffy to use her as a testimony. There were students that witnessed her assault through the office window. They even saw the wiping with the tissues, the coke, the cup of coke part. They stated clearly

for producers that you didn't was screaming no, no no no. And that part is going to become devastating. The fact that she was screaming no just keep this in mind. So obviously when the coercion didn't work, the vice principal asked to meet with Mr. Jay in a hotel lobby and beg him to negotiate with the administration. If Mr. Jay was to just admit that he made all the kids lie, he could get all the benefits that he would have a dream of. He could be the next vice principal for crying out loud if he wanted. The vice principal said, I'm the chairman's son. Being on my good side, it would be really good for you.

Mr. J rejected it and the head of administration, you know, he's married, the vice principal's married. He's doing all of this with the wife and kids and what's crazier is that the wife is sticking by his side. His wife comes out and begs, pleads with Mr. J and she says, my husband is not responsible for any of this, he did not do it, he could go to prison for a really long time because of this please, you have to help us. Mr. J declined. And he went to the median and told them what happened. The school was super pissed, with all the negative press that they were getting, they didn't

even care about doing damage control, they just felt rage, So they fired Mr. J on the spot. They responded to journalists. Death people always lie. Wow. Death people always lie. It's in their nature. They lie as much as they eat. I was so shocked at this line. Okay. They lie as much as they eat. It's such a... I don't know if it comes off in the translation, but in Korean, it's such a disgusting way to describe something. It's like, you don't even see them as humans. You see them as like animals. They said, teachers who I know also set the same thing as me. Deaf people always act however they want for their own comfort. They only think about the present moment. That's any lie and that's why we should never trust them.

That's usually a firm iron rule in this industry. Okay, imagine this is like the, what are they called? The caretaker. The caretaker of these, like can you imagine? Yeah, I don't know. Like how do they think it's okay to say that too? That's what I'm saying. And I think like, okay, I think they are evil.

They are monsters and they did receive a lot of backlash. But whatever the community whatever bubble there in Made them feel that was appropriate. So it's not just the person saying it that's wrong There must be people behind this family that are like yeah, I totally agree with you They must have family friends that they go out to eat dinner with and complain about the students that literally are their livelihood And everyone must say yeah, you're totally right. I just can't imagine what that community of their friends are those closest to them are like.

If they think that this is okay to say in public to producers. Probably making fun of them all the time. Yes. Jokes around and. So like I said, we're probably covering a small percentage of the abuse that truly happened. The school was open for over 50 years. It's 50 years of abuse we're probably covering a small percentage of the abuse that truly happened. The school was open for over 50 years.

It's 50 years of abuse we're talking about. And I'm sure it's just horrific to the point where I don't think any of the general population knows truly the full extent of what happened. I don't think people could be even more enraged. Parents of the school and the victim staged a sit-in. They demanded something to happen. I mean, the police hadn't gotten involved. Mr. J. Westfired, the perpetrators are still working with children and getting paid by

the government. The people who saw the documentary, they were mad, but it wasn't enough. It was still up to the parents to fight. They just wanted the school to shut down. They spent eight months, eight months of their lives on pause, living in front of the school on the street. They set up tents. They held signs that read, life is hard enough with the disability. How dare you?

Harsh punishments for sexual predators. In a gut-wrenching moment, the parents would protest in a full bow on their knees forehead touching the hot cement, scraping their hands, palms, knees, everything on the cement. This position is really hard to keep. They're doing this non-stop begging the public to help them. For hours in the heat, this is what they did. Sometimes students join them, and they would wait outside the school gates with cartons of eggs in cake. When the Inua family would walk through the gates,

they would egg them and then throw a flower on them. You've most likely seen this in Kate dramas. It's a real practice. It's one of the more severe social-shame bullying tactics, and normally I'm against it, but I can't say that I'm mad on this case. And this is when media turned. Really random articles started coming out about how ungrateful students at this school

were. The article were basically fluffed pieces for the Inua family, probably on their payroll. They would write things like, I mean, I get it, the students are upset, but this is still a working principle at the end of the day. We need to respect our teachers and elders. What are we teaching society? And they would say things like, this is a school that took them in when nobody else did. Okay. I really hate that sentiment. I really hate that sentiment. What does that even

mean? No, they were getting rich off this school. They were getting rich off this school. I'm sure if given the chance, there are so many people who genuinely want to help these students that don't have the proper connections, or maybe they don't even have the proper education and that's why they can't. And because the school was still operating, the principal gathered up all the students at Egton and forced them to write apology letters. The guy wants apology letters for getting eggs. Oh yeah, I mean they were the driest apology letters that I have ever write in the history of my life, which like good for that, right? But they would write things like, I'm sorry to the principal for making him uncomfortable.

Dear principal, we're sorry that we threw red paint at you. We're sorry that we act you. From now on, we'll do the right things. The principal was pissed. He started to physically abuse them again. He would line up the students and slap them around in-screen because your parents are out there protesting and doing that weird shit now you're getting hit in here. Just know that this is because of your parents.

No way, they're still inside. Yes, they have nowhere else to go. Finally, the protests gathered enough public interest and got enough civilians riled up that the police were pressured into launching an investigation. After a few months, Karin Law Enforcement arrested six Inwa school administrators and teachers.

They were going to court. Nine victims were going to testify. The National Human Rights Center sent representatives to help prepare the victims and go through their trauma. Now, trial number one, there were a lot of rough details that came out during all of this. Just really rough allegations of abuse. I'm talking, watching adult films, forcing them to kiss and just really nasty, nasty stuff.

I mean, most of which we've already covered, all of it is like coming out into the open during the trial in its full gruesome details. Another student, let's color-summon, she was one of the girls that would get invited over to the teacher's homes. This is very sick and twisted. So think about how vile the psychology

behind these monsters are. The vice principal would want to abuse his student. He does it in the school, but it's not enough. He wants to now bring that student into his home that he shares with his wife and kids. He forces that student to eat dinner with his whole family while he tells his wife about how good of a student's sumin is.

After dinner, the teacher, the vice principal, suggests that his wife and kids go run some quick errands while he and sumin go over some practice tests. He then assaults the student in his own home. I feel like there's some sick psychology behind that. Like the risk it would take to even bring the students home and the whole dinner, like, it's so sick and twisted to me. Like, what are you getting out of it? It's like something is wrong with you. Yeah. Because he's getting something out of it. And it didn't just happen once. It happened multiple times to sum in alone. And I can't imagine that she was the only one that this

vice principal did this to. If the girl refused to go to his house, he would beat her and our word her in the school for retaliation. So there was no winning. Speaking of retaliation, those who ever looked like they would think about talking about the abuse, they were beaten to a pulp. The physical abuse in this school alone would have warranted a trial. There is some photo evidence of it. I'm not going to show it because these again are, I love a lot of it would happen on the bottoms, like the butt, right, of, and their minor so I'm not going to show that, but there's a, it's just, there's no part that looks like skin anymore. It's just blue, deep purple, like yellow, but not in like the yellow undertone, like the bruising yellow. It looks like it was done with some sort of long cane.

So many of the parents of the victims actually knew about all of this, but they themselves struggled with mental or physical disabilities, and they knew that the police would never believe them, because they weren't able-bodied. So they felt like their best way to protect their child was to help them feel better, and we teach them how not to cause trouble. And what's so sad is these parents are always teaching these kids how not to be a burden to able-bodied people.

And that kind of mindset is so heartbreaking, because that's not how we should think at all. One victim's grandmother cried out, how can intellectual people do this? How do they even dare do something like this? The perpetrators were intellectual people. My granddaughter is deaf and she cannot speak a word. How can he do that to her?

Do they feel no pity towards her? If there were no laws, I would find the perpetrator and tear them apart with my own two hands. She is a kid who cannot even speak. Do you remember Hoyoung at the beginning of this story? She was assaulted and then given two dollars. She would tell the principal what happened and he ignored her, right? She ended up graduating and tried to move on with her life.

She got married, had a child. And she said every day all she thought about was the abuse. Even with her husband, she said it wasn't until the trial that she told him what actually happened. She was so worried that he would feel ashamed of her. She thought that he'd be upset with her. And she was so scared. And thankfully, he was a normal, morally-obstanting person. He held her hand, he listened to her.

And when she was done, his face was soaking wet with tears and he told her, none of this is your fault. He told reporters, I was so angry after what I heard, I wanted to wipe out all the teachers. I just want to see them one time face to face. During the trial, the defense did some insane things. Their line of questioning towards Hoyoung

and another one who also was a victim grew up, got married, and had a child. The lawyers asked, these are the perpetrators' defense attorneys. They asked, how can you get married and pregnant if you had ever been R-worded? And they're what? Their logic in this was, if a person who is R-worded, they can never fall in love and get pregnant

due to the trauma. They believed if someone is truly traumatized sexually, they can never heal from it, and there's no way that they could ever be intimate ever again. Therefore, if the victim's got pregnant, there was no way that they were ever R-worded as kids. Another really infuriating detail to note is it's going to be important throughout the trial. Most of the students in the school were using sign language to communicate, and to

put it nicely, their sign language education and vocabulary was questionable at best, detrimental at worst. Many of the teachers in the school didn't even know sign language. How do you expect the students to learn? I mean, regardless of the case or not, that is so devastating that they didn't even know sign language. How do you expect the students to learn? I mean, regardless of the case or not, that is so devastating that they aren't even taught the ways to express their emotions and feelings like most people can. It's such a disservice.

The students had a limited range of expression, including words to describe the exact series of events. And they were too young to even understand what really happened to them. They just kept signing that they felt icky. They felt icky. Other students said it was so sad because these kids, they would go up on this stand and they would start getting so frustrated with themselves that they can't express what happened to them. Because they weren't given the tools.

And again, I just want to disclaim that sign language is a complete language. And the reason that they couldn't express it was not because sign language didn't have the words, but they weren't taught that. Even if there were all the ways in the world for the kids to accurately express themselves, they weren't taught any of it. Spectators said the worst part was they ended up having to act out a lot of what happened because they just couldn't sign it. There were also issues with the initial trial where the interpreters that the prosecutor's

got, so this is on the government's end. I don't know why they did this. The interpreters barely knew sign language. So people who knew sign language that were spectating the trial, they're like, what is going on? So the prosecutors would ask, why would the teacher do this? The interpreter would say, why would the teacher do this? The interpreter would say, why would the teacher do this? The student would respond.

And then the prosecutor would ask, okay, what did he do? But then the interpreter would just say, why did he do this? So the kid is like, why are they look confused? Like, why are you just asking me this? I'm so confused. And because they're so young and vulnerable, they feel like, oh, maybe they're going to keep asking me until they like my answer. So sometimes they would keep changing their answer because it's like, why else would they keep asking me that?

But that's not what the prosecutor was asking. The interpreter sucks. It got to the point where all of the other students that were showing up in support were like slamming their hands on tables, like getting so frustrated and another nuance to note that I think is very important is that when you are testifying, especially when a young person is testifying, they, when you're vulnerable, you normally hold your hands around your body in sort of like a protective gesture, or maybe you don't make eye contacts, maybe you're crying and you're trying to keep a straight face and remove all emotion as you're recounting the series of events, right? But the nature of sign language that the children were using, they had to pull their hands and arms away from their body to talk.

They had to leave their torso uncovered, which made them even more vulnerable subconsciously. And to describe the emotions and actions, they can't just verbally say he lifted my shirt. So like I said, with the rudimentary and whole-filled sign language that they were using and that they were taught, they had to mine it out. So they would even lift up their own shirt in the court to really show what happened. And another thing that's constantly taught

to those that are learning sign language is that facial expressions are part of sign language. Because I think with spoken language, you have the tone inflections that kind of indicate the mood or the vibe that you're trying to communicate across with sign language because the hand motions could mean similar things. You're using your face to express the emotion that you want the viewer to understand. I mean even with tone inflections if you have us someone who's speaking and monotone it's kind of hard to understand what type of emotion you're supposed to feel. So it's very important and to recreate those facial expressions without personally being back in that trauma I think is

impossible. So the whole trial they're reliving the trauma. They're basically ripping their heart bear to the court and everyone was under the belief of, okay, this is really bad, but the kids are doing their part and the adults are going to do our part and we're going to fight for justice and this worthy sentence will show the world that they can never do this again. It'll be a landmark case, right? The principal was given two years and ten months. The vice principal, one of the more heinous people involved right? The principal was given two years and ten months. The vice principal, one of the more heinous people involved in all of this, was given eight months. Two nurses were given ten months each and most of these were then

commuted to probation instead of jail time. How? Yeah, I'm gonna get into it. Legal stuff. The judge wasn't even a bad person. The judge straight up kept apologizing to the victims because there was nothing he could legally do. It was shocking. It was shocking. The case could be classified as two crimes. Crimes persecutable upon complaint. So in South Korea, essay, especially in minors at the time legally, you couldn't do it until

the minors complained or pressed charges. Now the way that the prosecutors were trying to go about this case is they were trying to get the perpetrators jailed for a very specific law, which is essay against people with disabilities. Why is that important? Why didn't they just do essay? Well, because essay is not a felony in South Korea, at least at the time it wasn't. So most people were getting like probation for essay. But if you did this for a minor with a disability, you would more likely get jail time. This was probably as harsh as the sentence gets. And they couldn't do essay against a minor because the statute of limitations at the time was one year, one year. So this kid endured the most traumatic thing that a human can ever endure really, and they have one year to show up in court and lay their heart bare and do all these things.

Otherwise, your time is up. Can you imagine having a ticking time clock like over your head? You just ruined a kid's life. Yeah. And in return, as long as nothing happens in the year, you're free to go. Now, thankfully, there is no statute of limitations, or at least not a one year one for if they

are children with disabilities. Now, here's the disgusting part. The premise of all of this is that people with disabilities, this is where the ableism comes into strong play. The law is written that a person with a disability cannot fight back or say no. That's how they describe a disability. So even if you're able to sign no, even if you're able to shake your head no,

or scream for help, even if you are disabled and yet you can still speak and say, please stop or scream somebody help me, then you cannot technically be a part of this law. So let's take you, Dins case. Her arborder held her down and assaulted her. She did have a disability that is listed as severe. However, there were witnesses that testified

that she multiple times stated, no, no, I don't want this. So she said no. And because physically she could say no, she no longer qualified for the specific clause that she was a child with a disability. Now, as a against a child, they couldn't do it because the statute of limitations was up. So, they got like nothing.

Once the statement was signed to all the people in the court, so the victim's parents, fellow students. And I wanna say this with, like I'm trying to phrase this with as much respect and sensitivity as possible, but if you know or have been around a deaf person being deaf doesn't mean being mute a lot of deaf people still have the capabilities of producing sound and Since they've never heard spoken language. It's next and possible for them to mimic it Because they can't hear the language right which means if they're deaf from birth, they typically can't speak a spoken language, it's next and possible for them to mimic it. Because they can't hear the language, right?

Which means if they're deaf from birth, they typically can't speak a spoken language. But they still make sounds. And they can still yell, they can still whill, they can still cry. But again, since they've never heard someone else do it, like this is how humans are created. You know, so much is hearing. Even babies so much is hearing, right? Because they haven't heard people yell. It's a different sort of sound that comes out when they yell. And I don't know how to describe it, but I think that's how humans were supposed to yell.

It's almost like a visceral, like the purest form of a yell that I can describe. It's like guttural, it's so raw. And I think you feel the grief, and it's just, it's different, like it stays with you. And that day, the entire courtroom was filled with the grief of the victims, and a reporter wrote, the moment that we heard the verdict,

the courtroom was filled with the indescribable sounds from all the people. After the trial, the school was still opened and after probation, all the administrators were back running the school. They were back around students because technically they had the right to hire whoever they wanted. There was no legal clause that said, hey, you can't be a teacher or an administrator out of school if you have this in your criminal history. Side note, Mr. J had to flee the country because he was attacked during this whole thing. Yeah, the defense attorney came out with some crazy allegations against him. I don't even know how that was allowed in court, but yikes. And the public, they were enraged by this verdict, but what can they do? Their lives moved on. So the public, they were mad, but they moved on until the movie came out.

And this film was a box office hit. It had an audience of 4.7 million viewers, which doesn't sound like a lot. But that's 10% of South Korea's population. Even the President at the time saw the movie. Another person who watched the movie was the South Korea's National Police Agency Commissioner, General Cho. General Cho got right to work. He formed a special team to investigate the school and he was really sneaky with it. I don't even think that the school knew that they were being watched again. They just knew like the movie came out and they were like, oh, bad press. Meanwhile, netizens were growing increasingly upset and they wrote things like, what? In order to punish a trash criminal, the victim has to make

a movie or a novel and make every single person in the country angry. That's how the justice system works now. We all have to get so emotionally invested in every case. The public put so much social pressure on the police department that the InWa School sexual assault case was officially reopened. And it was a lot. Now, they couldn't gather the same victims because that's double jeopardy. They can't be tried for the same crimes against the same victims, like I said, double jeopardy. So they started focusing on different victims.

And the victims now were being represented by a huge human rights attorney, E. Monsuke. If you saw this man walking down the street in Korea, you would think he's just a random I just see. Like, middle-aged man. He tackled some of the biggest human rights cases in South Korea. When an eight-year-old known to the nation by her alias, Nya-ni, was brutally assaulted in a public restroom. Do you remember that case? To the point where she was left permanently disabled,

he represented the eight-year-old. He was the reason that the perpetrator even got any jail time. He really cared about the kids, and this made us smart. Mr. Lee knew that every case needs a villain's face. You know, that's how it is. That's why big corporations are harder to be canceled online than a celebrity, because with the celebrity you have a face.

You can attach these emotions to a face. With corporations, it's a board of directors. It's a board of investors, executives. Every story needs a villain. And he thought the problem was, the administration was too big of a villain. So they singled out the vice principal. That would be the face of their case. But the problem is, he can't be tried again for the exact crimes because of double jeopardy.

So lawyer Lee does something different. He was going to get the children treatment. Therapy. First of all, he was the first person to ever care about their futures. He wanted them on the path to healing, but not only that, he wanted to do something that was never done before. A landmark case. He was going to sue the perpetrators for inflicting injury. What injury?

Mental trauma. This would be the first time in South Korea that someone would sue for mental, like emotional distress after a sexual crime. Because usually during the court trials, people would talk about the physical injuries, but they would never really even acknowledge the mental trauma that would linger for the rest of their lives. So now he was solely going to use that because there is no statute of limitations for inflicting injuries. And he was going to argue this was an injury. And the statute of limitations would start the day they get diagnosed with the injury. So they needed some sort of trauma diagnosis. And he wanted to bring in the best of the

best because these kids were living on social welfare. They didn't have funds. His friend was a psychiatry professor at Yonsei University. This is like, creates Johns Hopkins, if you will. And Yonsei is a public institution and the hospital that they had near this school as they have hospitals all over the country. They were underfunded and understaffed, even though they're one of the biggest institutions. It sounds easy, but this professor had to work with so many people at Yeon-se and they had to move so many schedules around,

everyone worked over time to get these students in. And as they were waiting, because these students cannot be diagnosed unless they are inpatient. As they are waiting for everything to work out, the doctors and nurses on that floor that would be in contact with these students. They obviously couldn't learn that much, but they learned, hi, thank you, are you hungry, are you sleepy, are you okay, do you need anything? Inside language. They were able to get volunteer drivers. People in the community stepped up. There's a lot of students.

They would need to be driven from hospital to hospital, from lawyer appointment to court dates. People volunteered to drive them around. And just get them to these places. People volunteered to drive the parents around to be able to make sure that they're there. And the kids were all sadly diagnosed with some sort of PTSD from the abuse. The only silver lining of that diagnosis would be that now lawyerly could aggressively go after the abusers.

If they won, this would change the country, really. He even told the judge in the courtroom, please take a close look at the victim's eyes, their voice, their facial expressions, and body reactions. Even if you don't speak sign language, even if you can't understand the words that the victims are saying, you don't need to understand the words to know

what kind of pain that they've been through. He would tell the attorneys on his team and the interpreters, don't ask difficult words, abstract words, or long sentences. Don't ask short-answered questions like yes or no answers. Ask them questions in an open manner. This time, a bunch of very, very capable, competent interpreters volunteered to be a part of this case.

They had the Sexual Violence Counseling Center work on this. They had psychiatrists from Yonsei, a psychologist, sign language interpreters, drivers, court like everyone. Basically, Yon Tae University was backing these kids. Everyone volunteered their time and effort and expertise. And it worked. The judge accepted the inflection of injury charge and the vice principal, the worst of them all, the one that had gotten eight months, he got 12 years in prison. He's gotten eight months. He got 12 years in prison. It's still small, but the court back in Korea,

back in the day and still today, not very inclined to send someone to jail for more than 10 years for a sexual crime, even if it's some of the most heinous. But he still tried to appeal a sentence saying that it was too harsh. Thankfully, it was denied. But still, the rest got virtually no punishment.

The good news is the school was shut down and the students were sent to other boarding schools. A lot changed though, but one victim's parents said, as say on a child, is like murdering a soul. The physical or mental wound remains forever. The offender can avoid punishment after a certain period because of the statute of limitations, but for the kid it's the rest of their lives. But Korea got to work.

Civilians started advocating and protesting the change to the essay laws. So there is a clause in basically all essay laws at the time that said, did they fight back? They said that shouldn't even be a question, especially with minors and particularly minors with disabilities. So that's in the works. And prior to this, if a victim of SA did not formally press charges or sue the perpetrator, the police would do nothing.

That has also been changed. Now, police are allowed to go after these abusers without the victim being involved, which is a very good thing because that's just retraumatizing them, right? Especially right after. And the way that some of these trials were going on, it was weird. There was also another law put in place that said that if you are a state-funded institution, like a welfare establishment, you cannot hire only family members.

One third of hires have to be outsiders. Which I get, it's like a good step in the direction, but not enough. Like imagine going up against two-thirds of an institution and their one big family. So things have changed, but I think that this is still something that every South Korean probably feels a lot of pain about. It's definitely a very... It was a movie and it was a case that I think changed everyone, just like this how are fairy-case. Just like even Itaewan, I think a lot of areas in a lot of countries have these moments where people just, the civilians get fed up and they start putting their foot down and

I think this was one of them. Before I finish up the episode, let me tell you about the principal's thesis paper that was later uncovered by Netizens. The principal of Inwa, one of the abusers, wrote a huge thesis paper on how important it is to take care of disabled people. He wrote, in order to help students with disabilities,

treatment and rehabilitation has to be given from someone who loves them from the heart. It is the caretakers job to secure the student's uncertain future without a single ounce of regret. Caretakers should serve in the role of a helping hand in place of the disabled. A helping hand, he said, if that's how he gives a helping hand,

I think we should all hope that he gets a handful of care every single day for the rest of his miserable life. And that is it for today's episode. Please stay safe, and I will see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye.