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75 Greater awareness, open discussion needed to combat culture of blame Breaking the silence around abuse Story by Eileen Cahill Illustrations by vanessa Sae-hee Burke Additional reporting by Jongmin Lee and Hyejin Park T he first time her husband hit her, Trinh Thi An* had gotten up in the middle of the night to comfort their crying daughter. She forgave him because they had a child together and because his behavior seemed out of character. But the violence continued. Once, he grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the face in front of the child, who was about 3. Another time, he physically forced her out of the house and wouldn’t let her back in. When she went to the police for help, the officers convinced her husband to sign a letter of apology in which he promised not to do it again. But one day, Trinh came home from work to find her husband naked on the bed with the child, and he was encouraging her to touch his genitals. Trinh is one of countless women in Korea who experience violence, some on a daily basis. The perpetrator could be a flasher on the street or the creepy coworker down the hall. Or he could be your friend, your date or your spouse. According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, 22,034 rapes were re- ported in 2011. Of those, 18,591 cases resulted in arrests with 18,880 offenders being convicted. However, only 12 percent of those found guilty were sentenced to jail. *This name has been changed to protect the identity of the interviewee.