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Victims of domestic violence

□ Protection of and support for victims of domestic violence

○ Immigrants by marriage, etc. who suffer from domestic violence may receive the following protection and support from the state and local governments (Article 8, paragraphs 3 and 4 of the “Multicultural Families Support Act”):

- Access to counseling centers and protection facilities for victims of domestic violence which provide foreign language interpretation services

- Where immigrants by marriage, etc. terminate a marital relationship due to domestic violence, the necessary services, such as interpretation of languages, legal counseling, and administrative assistance in making statements and finding facts, so that they will not be placed at a disadvantage due to communication difficulties or lack of information regarding the legal system and other relevant matters

□ Financial threat

○ Not paying living expenses is domestic violence. Disposing of property at will or having to report living expenses without consent can also constitute domestic violence.

- <ex> Intercept or arbitrarily use the income, property, and wages of family members (elderly), infringe on legal rights to property, control decisions on the use or management of property, prohibit from using money without permission regardless of the amount

□ Reporting domestic violence

○ when the professional staff and head of a support center for multi-cultural families and international marriage brokers and their employees under the Marriage Brokers Business Management Act become aware of criminal domestic violence in the course of performing their duties, they must promptly report the fact to an investigative agency in the absence of justifiable grounds (Article 4, paragraph 2, subparagraphs 4 and 5 of the “Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, Etc. of Victims”).

○ No one is allowed to cause any disadvantage to any person who has reported criminal domestic violence under the above provisions on the grounds of such reporting (Article 4, paragraph 4 of the “Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, Etc. of Victims”).

□ Filing a complaint against an offender

○ A victim of domestic violence (hereinafter referred to as the “victim”) or his/her legal representative may file a complaint against a domestic violence offender. Where the legal representative of the victim is an offender or he/she has committed criminal domestic violence in collaboration with the offender, a relative of the victim may file a complaint (Article 6, paragraph 1 of the “Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, Etc. of Victims”).

○ A victim may file a complaint where the domestic violence offender is a lineal ascendant or descendant of the victim or his/her spouse. The same will apply to the cases where his/her legal representative files a complaint (Article 6, paragraph 2 of the “Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, Etc. of Victims”).

○ Where a victim has no legal representative or relative who is allowed to file a complaint, a prosecutor must designate a person who may do so within ten days if requested by an interested person (Article 6, paragraph 3 of the “Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, Etc. of Victims”).

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