An open letter from a victim of dating violence has sparked a wave of discussion across Korea University in Seoul after it was posted to the university’s bulletin board.

The victim detailed her painful experience in the letter, which went viral on social media and received coverage from local news outlets.

Since it was posted on Oct. 11, the letter has been the topic of discussion across campus with students crowding the board to read it.

“I am usually on the other side of the campus, but I came here today to read the letter after learning about it on the news. I couldn’t believe this happened at our school,” said a graduate student at the school, surnamed Kim, in an interview with The Korea Herald.

Among the crowd of students at the bulletin board, some sighed and moaned at the shocking details of the victim’s testimony. “This sounds like a very painful experience and I want to support the victim’s courage in taking the initiative to publicize the case,” said a media major surnamed Kang,

Behind the publication of the letter is Korea University Minority Human Rights Committee, an advocacy group at the school, which received the letter from the victim and then made it public.

“The letter has received a substantial amount of reactions from the students, as well as from social media where the letter was shared. Our purpose of publishing this was to raise the awareness on the issue and prevent other students from suffering dating violence,” a member of the KUMHRC told The Korea Herald.

The letter describes how the victim’s then-boyfriend, a student of Yonsei University, treated her like “an object with which to satisfy his sexual desires.”

The victim claims that her former boyfriend pressured her into having sex with him and used violent language to threaten her. At the end of the letter, she calls on students to recognize the seriousness of dating violence, and urges other victims to report their cases.

The KUMHRC said the school should take more steps to tackle dating violence and other types of sexual violence prevalent on campus.

“The case we publicized through this letter is not the only sexual violence incident on campus. We ask our school to come up with a more systematic solution to handling this problem, such as protective measures for students affected by sexual violence,” the committee said.

At the request of the Korea University committee, the letter has also been posted at Yonsei University.

Both posts are set to be removed from the college bulletin boards late Wednesday. 
 

(mjk625@heraldcorp.com)