"Beg, Obey"... Repeated Gaslighting Crimes, Is Punishment Possible?

Falling into a friend's Saju, assaults and kills mother
Calls for punishment over repeated gaslighting crimes... Experts point out punishment is difficult based on the act alone
Experts: "If gaslighting forms the basis of a crime, it can be considered as a reference in investigations"

The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As crimes such as abuse among relatives through gaslighting continue to occur, there are calls for these acts to be punished. However, it is pointed out that currently, it is difficult to find evidence that gaslighting involves psychological manipulation of the other party, making legal punishment based solely on the act itself challenging.

Gaslighting refers to emotional abuse that cunningly manipulates another person's psychology or situation to strengthen control over them. In many cases, the victim is unaware that they are already under emotional control by another person.

On the 7th, a post titled "Requesting punishment for a non-commissioned officer who drove my younger sibling to death through gaslighting and domestic violence" was uploaded on the Blue House National Petition board. The petitioner, who identified herself as the victim's older sister, claimed, "At my younger sibling's funeral on July 28, the brother-in-law A hid my sibling's phone from his uncle, acting suspiciously. Finding this strange, I checked my sibling's phone and found contents beyond imagination."

The petitioner stated, "Upon checking the phone, A repeatedly sent one-sided messages to my sibling such as 'I know you best. I am the one who loves you the most in the world. So you should treat me well. Everything is your fault. You endure because it's me. Obey. Beg,' 'Don't meet your friends tomorrow. Say you are sick. And report to me what those friends say,' 'Your family doesn't consider you their daughter. Now, your family is only me. Wake up,' and so on."

She continued, "Deceived by love, my sibling could not even make purchases like a 20,000 won tray or a humidifier without A's permission. Unlike A, who always appeared well-dressed, my sibling spent last winter wearing only one padded jacket that A had worn," adding, "Under A's surveillance, my sibling could not even tell family and friends about his atrocities and lived days like walking on thin ice, constantly watching A's mood."

The petitioner lamented, "Due to A's repeated manipulation of situations and lies, criticism toward my sibling, and after violence, endless expressions of affection and praise, my sibling lost sense of reality and judgment, was dominated for 10 years without realizing the relationship was not love, and sometimes denied the harsh violence and reality when it returned, suffering and becoming depressed, ultimately unable to ask for help and dying."

On the 7th, a post titled "I demand punishment for the non-commissioned officer who drove my younger sibling to death through gaslighting and domestic violence" was uploaded on the Blue House National Petition Board. Photo by Blue House National Petition Board capture.

Crimes caused by gaslighting are not limited to this. On July 16, three sisters were sentenced to prison for repeatedly assaulting their mother with blunt weapons such as a pestle and a bat in a blind spot without CCTV, resulting in her death. Initially, the investigation considered it a cruel filial crime by the three daughters, but forensic analysis of their phones revealed that the mother B and her 30-year-old friend C had instigated the crime.

C was found to have instigated the crime by telling the three sisters, "B is suppressing your energy, so you cannot meet a good spouse. You should punish B." The day before B's death, C sent messages to the second daughter saying, "Because of your mother, your energy is being suppressed, so you must punish her," and the three sisters reportedly replied with messages like, "We will catch her even if we have to break her head."

As these crimes became public, there are also calls to discuss punishment for gaslighting. It is pointed out that initially, low-level gaslighting continuously tightens the victim's mental state, and later escalates to crimes that cause physical and property damage to the victim, so the seriousness of gaslighting itself must be recognized.

Experts warn that gaslighting is a form of brainwashing. Oh Yoon-sung, a professor of Police Administration at Soonchunhyang University, explained, "Gaslighting manipulates situations to shake the victim's sense of reality and judgment, leading to mental control and manipulation. Because it manipulates the other party's psychology or situation to its advantage, it makes the victim feel guilty and dependent on the manipulator."

Regarding punishment for gaslighting acts, he said, "In our country, due to the principle of legality, punishment can only be applied when a crime defined in the criminal law is committed. Gaslighting itself does not involve clear acts such as violence under criminal law but occurs over a long period, so punishment is difficult. However, if psychological manipulation through gaslighting forms the basis of a crime, it can be used as a reference during the investigation stage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.