Abused South Korean Women

Abstract

This study compares two groups of women in South Korea: one group incarcerated for the deaths of their male partners and the other staying in a shelter for battered women. The analysis serves to answer two questions: First, are the findings regarding women who kill their intimate partners in Western societies generally applicable to their counterparts in South Korea? Second, how are abused South Korean women who resort to lethal violence against their abusers different from those who do not? Regarding both abused and nonabused women incarcerated for criminal homicide against their partners, results indicate that they have less experience of psychological and physical abuse by their partners and that they are less educated, underemployed, and more supportive of traditional patriarchal norms than are the women who utilize domestic violence shelters. This research explores implications for intervention strategies to encourage abused women to seek help from legal and extralegal sources.