Abstract

The study was conducted in order to investigate torture experience of torture victims and health problems of toture victims in Korea. Twenty-nine cases reported by The Korean Human Rights Council in 1996 were analyed: The major findings were follows 1) Total torture experiences were 52 cases which means that a tortured more than 1.8 times. 2) 107% of victims had physically tortured and 72.4% were psychologically tortured. 3) Beating 67.7%, suspension 9.7%, burn 6.5%, forced eating 6.5%, forced position using 3.2%, suffocation 3.2%, electric torture 3.2% were used as physical toture techniques. 4) Deprivation technique 80.0%, coercion technique 19.0%, were used as psychological torture methods. 5) Among deprivation techniques, sleep deprivation 41.2%, sensory deprivation 29.4%, medical service deprivation 23.5%, nutritional deprivation 5.9% were used. 6) Among coercion techniques, threat 75.0%, mock-execution 25% were used. To conclude, This study presented torture experience of victims and 2 victims' testimonies on health problems for the first time in Korea. This study suggests that torture researches and rehabilitation centers in Korea should be developed.

• Keywords: Menopause, Stress, Social network, Depression