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Brothers Home

Coordinates: 35°9′14.51″N 129°0′35.91″E / 35.1540306°N 129.0099750°E / 35.1540306; 129.0099750
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brothers Home
형제복지원
SuccessorSiloam's House[1]
Formation1960
Defunct1988
PurposeChild protective services, welfare (officially)
Location
LeaderPark In-guen
Key people
Chun Doo-hwan
Korean name
Hangul
형제복지원
Hanja
兄弟福祉院
Revised RomanizationHyeongje bokjiwon
McCune–ReischauerHyŏngje bokchiwŏn

The Brothers' Home (Korean: 형제복지원) was an internment camp (officially a welfare facility) located in Busan, South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. During its operation, it held 20 factories and thousands of people who were rounded up off of the street, homeless people, some of whom were children, in addition to college students who were protesting the regime. Only 10% of internees were actually homeless.[2] The camp was home to some of the worst human rights abuses in South Korea during the period[3] and has been nicknamed "Korea's Auschwitz" by various Korean media outlets.[4]

Background

[edit]

Throughout the 1950s, the Republic of Korea struggled to recover from the devastation of the Korean War.[5] Welfare policies during this period were focused on the housing of orphans, as they were seen as a stain to South Korea's national reputation.[6]: 7  As the 60s unfolded, these policies were expanded to cover the detention of general vagrants[6]: 8 [a] as Park Chung Hee's military junta commenced efforts to 'cleanse' society of those who were seen as "symbols of the 'poverty' and 'disorder' of cities".[1] Starting around 1960, major cities such as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju began the construction of 'vagrant detention facilities'.[1] A set of laws enacted in 1961 institutionalized the establishment of vagrant housing facilities. The Social Welfare Services Act of 1970(구 사회복지사업법) made every vagrant between 18–65 eligible for "social welfare services".[6]: 8-9 

In 1975, the South Korean Ministry of Home Affairs announced the Ministry of Home Affairs Directive No. 410 (내무부훈령 제410호),[1][10] which enabled municipalities and their local police departments to facilitate vagrants independently.[6]: 22  Ministry of Home Affairs Directive No. 410 defined vagrants as those who "prevent a healthy social order in cities and society."[11]: 5  This ambiguous definition allowed local authorities to autonomously decide on who classified as a vagrant and who didn't. Likewise, the city of Busan arrested and detained numerous people who were seen on the streets via its local police, identifying them as vagrants.[10] These included panhandlers, abandoned or orphaned children, and the disabled.[5] In some cases, unattended children were taken into police custody unbeknownst to their parents or guardians.[12] Arrested vagrants were distributed among 36 detention facilities across South Korea.[5]

Brothers Home was the biggest among these facilities.[10] First established on July 20, 1960, on Gamman-dong [ko], Busan,[13]: 22  Brothers Home began business as an orphanage[5] under the name "Brothers Orphanage"(형제육아소).[10] As the orphanage expanded in size, it transformed into an accommodation center for general vagrants in the early 70s.[1] In July 1975, Brothers Home signed a contract with the city of Busan and became one of its official vagrant detention facilities.[10] Subsequently, Brothers Home relocated to Jurye-dong.[13]: 9 

This crackdown on vagrancy was intensified as rebranding efforts were taken place by the South Korean government in preparations for the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.[12] On April 10, 1981, upon receiving a report from Military Security Command on the status of panhandling among disabled citizens,[13]: 5  then-president Chun Doo-Hwan ordered prime minister Nam Duck-woo to "crack down on begging and take protective measures for vagrants."[12] In October 6, Chun ordered Nam to "make sure no panhandlers are on the streets of Seoul" before the 1988 Olympics.[13]: 5 

Discovery of human rights abuses

[edit]

Investigations

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In August 1982, a man with the surname Kang submitted a petition to various government organizations and local police to request an investigation into the human rights abuses his brother had experienced while being detained at Brothers Home. The case was handled by the Busan Bukbu Police Station [ko], which arranged a meeting between Kang and Park In-geun, who was then the director of the center. Park took legal action against Kang for false accusation, and Kang was sentenced to eight months in prison on December 23, 1982.[13]: 7 

In December 1986, Kim Yong-won, a prosecutor from the District Prosecutors' Office of Ulsan,[1] set out on an investigation after hearing rumors from a local hunter that a group of laborers were logging in a nearby mountain while being assaulted by guards armed with clubs.[14] Kim discovered that the workshop, which was located on a mountain in Ulju County, Ulsan, was operating under orders from Park In-guen, director of Brothers Home.[14] Kim reckoned that Park was subjecting inmates brought from Brothers to forced labor, and launched a full-scale search and seizure investigation into the workshop and the center's main facility in Busan, on January 16, 1987.[b][14] The investigation, which included interviews of more than 100 inmates, guards, and executives of the center, concluded that the center's inmates, most of whom were of sound mind, had been involuntarily transported to and detained by the center, where they were subjected to forced, unpaid labor. A bank receipt indicating a deposit of 2 billion won was further found in a safe from the director's office.[14]

Following the investigation by the Prosecution Service, National Assembly members of the New Democratic Party subsequently conducted an independent investigation into Brothers. The party published its first report on the investigation on February 4, 1987.[15]: 45  It concluded that, of the 3,975 inmates who were present at the center in 1986, 3,117 had been brought in by police, and 258 by county officials.[16]

From 2022[17][18] to 2024, the South Korean Truth and Reconiliation Commission conducted a series of three investigations into the incident.[19]

Beatings and torture

[edit]

Subsequent investigations into the incident revelaed that the inmates of Brothers Home were subjected to serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary detention, enforced labor, torture,[20] and sexual violence.[21]

The center was administered in an "army-like chain of command."[2] To reduce costs for administration, one inmate was nominated and authorized as the "commander", who was just under facility director Park In-geun. Under the commander, 120 vagrants were grouped into a single residence as one "platoon."[2] Each platoon had a "leader," "general secretary," and "team leaders," all of whom were selected inmates.[1] Inmates of Brothers Home were subjected to collective punishment. For instance, the entire platoon would be beaten or tortured over the mistake of a single member.[1]

Widespread torture was common.[12][2] Inmates were often forced to keep painful and exhausting postures for prolonged periods and were beaten when they failed to stay still.[1]

Various testimonies have reported that Brothers Home had fed its inmates antipsychotics as a form of "chemical restraint."[13]: 29  Purchase records from the center have revealed that Brothers had purchased 25,000 tablets of chlorpromazine, along with a series of other antipsychotics such as haloperidol, flurazepam, and carbamazepine in 1986 alone. In 1987, the city of Busan denied the accusations, explaining that the drugs were over-the-counter drugs which were purchased for medical purposes.[13]: 29 

The 1987 New Democratic Party investigation reports estimated that, based on records from the center,[22] a total of 513 people had died inside Brothers from July 5, 1975 to January 7, 1987.[15]: 45  In 2014, an additional 38 victims were found to have died in the center from 1986 to its decommission in 1988, increasing the number to 551.[13]: 30  The 2022 Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation reported that, based on a comprehensive analysis including all newly discovered death records from 1975 to 1988, a total of 657 victims died in the center.[18][13]: 30 

A DW news article reports a minimum of 516 people died over the course of 20 years at the Brothers' Home.[22]

Adoption and human trafficking

[edit]

From the mid to late 1900s, around 200,000 South Korean children, most of whom were girls, were adopted overseas as part of what is believed to be the biggest adoptee diaspora in the world.[17] An investigation by the Associated Press discovered direct evidence that Brothers Home organized the adoption of 19 children from 1979 to 1986.[23] The AP further revealed that six U.S. adoption agencies—Holt International, Children's Home Society of Minnesota, Dillon International, Children's Home Society of California, Catholic Social Services, and Spence-Chapin—had received adoptees from Brothers.[23]

The European countries included Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark. This was a major human rights violation by the military dictatorship as most of the Korean girls were not real orphans and had living biological parents but were given false papers to show that they were orphans and exported to white parents for money. The Korea Welfare Services, Eastern Social Welfare Society, Korea Social Service and Holt Children's Services were the adoption agencies involved in the trafficking of the girls. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began investigating the scandal in 2022.[17] The military leaders were linked to the agencies board menbers and they wanted to establish closer links with the west and decrease South Korea's population.[24] South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System reported on the case of the Korean girl Kim Yu-ri who was taken away from her biological Korean parents and adopted to a French couple where she was raped and molested by the French adopted father.[25] Across Australia, Europe and the United States, the majority female Korean adoptees asked for an investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the child trafficking scandal.[26] Denmark was one of the recipients of the Korean adoptees sold by Korea Social Service and Holt Children's Services.[27][28] Holt Children's Service was sued by a Korean adoptee in the US for compensation.[29][30]

Involvement of the Protestant Church

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Survivors of Brothers Home have alleged close cooperation between the camp and the Protestant Church. One former inmate reported being forced to perform in Christian plays for local and international guests and given Easter eggs as rewards; another was sent to the camp via a Christian missionary. Another survivor described the church and the camp as a business operation run by Pastor Lim Young-soon and Director Park In-kyun (a former boxer and soldier), with children forced to work and run an on-premises Korean adoption operation,[31] including writing letters soliciting donations from families who have adopted children in the past.[2] Some of the adoption partners abroad were also part of Christian organizations.[31]

According to Shin Yi-geon, a representative of The Korea Christian Newspaper, Park In-geun was a senior presbyter of a church belonging to the The General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea. Shin further claimed that, despite being aware of the violation of human rights that was happening in Brothers, Christian organizations in Busan such as the Busan National Council of Churches and the Busan YMCA neglected any efforts to shine light on the incident.[32]

Aftermath

[edit]

Trial of Park In-geun

[edit]

Park In-guen was eventually sentenced to two and a half years in prison only for embezzlement.[12]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ South Korean law during this period defined 'vagrants' (Korean: 부랑인; Hanja: 浮浪人) as "beggars, gum sellers, or street hustlers who, without a fixed residence, wanders around places where many people gather or pass by, such as tourist spots, hospitality establishments, train stations, bus stops, or residential areas, and harasses passersby by begging or forcefully selling items."[7] In July 2003, the Social Welfare Services Act was reformed to legislate the classification of the "homeless"(Korean: 노숙인; Hanja: 露宿人) as separate from "vagrants".[8] In 2011, the Ministry of Health and Welfare removed the term "vagrant" entirely from South Korean law.[9]
  2. ^ On January 15, 1987, just a day before the investigation, police had announced the death of activist Park Jong-chul, which would later rekindle the June Democratic Struggle.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hae-nam Park; Il-hwan Kim; Jae-hyung Kim; Ji-hyun Choo; Jong-sook Choi; Jun-chol So; Kwi-byung Kwak; Sang-jic Lee (June 15, 2023). "'Big Brother' at Brothers Home: Exclusion and Exploitation of Social Outcasts in South Korea". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
  2. ^ a b c d e Kim, Susan (10 December 2021). "Secrets of South Korea's house of horrors hidden in Australia". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Child victims of Brothers Home still search for justice". CNN. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  4. ^ Multiple sources:
  5. ^ a b c d Tong-Hyung, Kim; Klug, Foster (19 April 2016). "AP: S. Korea covered up mass abuse, killings of 'vagrants'". Associated Press News. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Jae Hyung, Kim (2023). "한국 집단수용시설의 법제도화와 인권침해, 그리고 국가 책임" [The Institutionalization of Collective Detention Centers in South Korea, Human Rights Violations, and the Responsibility of the State]. 기억과 전망. 48: 169–206. doi:10.31008/MV.48.5 – via KISS.
  7. ^ 이소영 (June 18, 2017). "(5)명랑사회를 위한 '부랑인 청소'...결국 우리도 공모자였다". Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). "일정한 주거 없이 관광업소, 접객업소, 역, 버스정류소 등 많은 사람들이 모이거나 통행하는 곳과 주택가를 배회하거나 좌정하여 구걸 또는 물품을 강매함으로써 통행인을 괴롭히는 걸인, 껌팔이, 앵벌이." 이들은 우리 법이 '부랑인'이라 정의했던 대상이다.
  8. ^ 김욱. "노숙인 (露宿人)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  9. ^ 민경락 (November 3, 2011). "노숙인법에서 '부랑인'은 왜 사라졌을까". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean).
  10. ^ a b c d e 장미현. "형제복지원 사건 (兄弟福祉院 事件)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  11. ^ 정정훈 (2019). "감금의 질서, 수용시설의 권력기술* – 형제복지원과 인권의 재맥락화" [Order and confinement, technologies of authorities in detention facilities* – Recontextualization of Brothers' Home and human rights]. 도시인문학연구 (in Korean). 11 (1). doi:10.21458/siuh.2019.04.30.005.
  12. ^ a b c d e Jung, Bugyeong (30 May 2020). "Brothers' Home: South Korea's 1980s 'concentration camp'". BBC News. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Truth and Reconciliation Commission (August 24, 2020). "형제복지원 인권침해 사건진실규명 결정 관련 참고자료" [References on the decision to investigate the truth about human rights violations at Brothers Home] (in Korean).
  14. ^ a b c d 구영식 (January 29, 2013). "그곳에서 513명이 굶어죽고 맞아죽었다 수사검사도 분노한 김용준 '형제복지원' 판결". OhmyNews (in Korean).
  15. ^ a b 김재왕; 장서연; 여준민 (December 4, 2014). "형제복지원사건은 명백한 국가책임이다" [The Brothers Home incident is a clear government liability.] (PDF) (in Korean). 형제복지원피해생존자, 실종자, 유가족모임. 형제복지원사건진상규명을위한대책위원회.
  16. ^ 김슬기 (October 2, 2013). "한국의 홀로코스트, 형제복지원 사건의 진실". 대학원신문 (in Korean).
  17. ^ a b c Kim, Tong-hyung (December 8, 2022). "South Korea's truth commission to probe foreign adoptions". AP. Seoul, South Korea.
  18. ^ a b 장예지 (August 24, 2022). "형제복지원 사망자 105명 추가...조현병 약 25만정 구입도". The Hankyoreh (in Korean).
  19. ^ 전지현 (January 10, 2024). "'형제복지원 사건' 세번째 인권침해 확인...피해자 153명 추가". Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean).
  20. ^ 소제인 (July 17, 2023). "형제복지원 사건의 억울한 사연들". Hankook Ilbo.
  21. ^ 채윤태 (June 17, 2023). ""120명씩 한 방에 옷을 벗겨 재웠다"...형제복지원 '성폭력'은 일상". The Hankyoreh (in Korean).
  22. ^ a b Kretschmer, Fabian (21 April 2016). "Report highlights past abuse of 'vagrants' in S. Korea". DW.COM. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  23. ^ a b Kim, Tong-hyung; Klug, Foster (November 9, 2019). "AP Exclusive: Abusive S. Korean facility exported children". AP. Busan, South Korea.
  24. ^ "More South Korean adoptees who were sent overseas demand probes into their cases". NPR. December 9, 2022.
  25. ^ "양부의 범죄와 양모의 방관...친부모 동의도 없이 프랑스로 입양돼야 했던 김유리 씨의 삶 시사직격 KBS 방송". KBS 추적60분. Nov 21, 2022.
  26. ^ Kim, Tong-hyung (December 9, 2022). "More South Korean adoptees demand probes into their cases". AP. Seoul, South Korea.
  27. ^ Kim, Tong-hyung (August 23, 2022). "Danish adoptees call for S. Korea to probe adoption issues". AP. Seoul, South Korea.
  28. ^ Kim, Tong-hyung (June 11, 2021). "Korean adoptee films pain of mother-child separations". AP. Seoul, South Korea.
  29. ^ "South Korean court orders agency to compensate Asian American adoptee". Associated Press. May 16, 2023.
  30. ^ Kim, Tong-hyung (January 24, 2019). "AP Exclusive: Adoptee deported by US sues S. Korea, agency". AP. Seoul, South Korea.
  31. ^ a b "Abusive South Korean Facility Exported Children". VOA. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  32. ^ 신이건 (November 2, 2020). "40년 전 '부산형제복지원 사건' 부산 교계도 자성해야". The Korea Christian Newspaper (in Korean).

35°9′14.51″N 129°0′35.91″E / 35.1540306°N 129.0099750°E / 35.1540306; 129.0099750

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