Father held for sexually abusing kids for 12 years

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday arrested a 54-year-old man who sexually molested his two daughters over a period of 12 years.

According to the police, the man, identified by the surname Kim, began undressing and groping his elder daughter in 1994, when she was 4 years old, telling her that she was just playing doctor with her daddy.

He started having sex with her at some point later, police said.

When Kim’s younger daughter turned 13 in 2001, he started groping her on a regular basis over three years. When the elder daughter grew old enough to realize she was being raped, she tried refusing her father’s sexual demands, though he threatened to rape her younger sister if she refused him.

When the younger daughter started refusing to allow him to grope her, Kim threatened to send the sisters to an orphanage.

Kim’s wife divorced him in 2006, and the two girls managed to escape from their father.

The older daughter told her mother about the sexual abuse in 2010 and then revealed the story to a sexual violence crime counselling center and underwent psychotherapy.

She went public with her story anonymously on a radio program in 2013. However, she continued to battle depression and committed suicide last year by hanging herself.

Last month, the younger daughter, now 25, made an attempt to commit suicide by jumping from the Hannam Bridge in Seoul. She was rescued and told her tragic story to the police as she was being questioned afterward.

“The police are helping her return to a normal life through medical assistance and financial support,” said an officer who investigated the case.

Kim is currently being held in a detention center and has denied the rape and molestation.

BY SOHN KOOK-HEE [enational@joongang.co.kr]