A man and woman in their twenties were arrested recently for having locked up a middle school girl in a neighborhood hotel for six months, during which time they forced her to have sex with a stream of male customers. When her parents divorced, the girl felt she had nowhere to go, so she went to an older acquaintance for help, but was taken advantage of.
Last month, a teenage girl who had been sleeping in the streets died when she was beaten by a homeless man who had wrongly assumed she had stolen his money. The police still have not been able to find her parents. These are cases that show you the sad reality faced by youth who have run away from home or who are orphaned.
가출 청소년에게도 희망의 문은 열어줘야
가출한 여중생을 여관에 가두고 여섯 달 동안 하루 몇 차례씩 성매매를 강요한 20대 남녀가 얼마 전 경찰에 구속됐다. 여중생은 부모의 이혼으로 갈 곳이 없어지자 알고지내던 선배를 찾아갔다가 이런 일을 당했다고 한다. 지난달에는 노숙을 하며 지내던 한 10녀 소녀가 돈을 훔쳤다고 오해한 남자 노숙자에게 얻어맞아 목숨을 잃었다. 경찰은 소녀의 주검을 인수할 가족을 아직 찾지 못했다. 가출 청소년이 처한 안타까운 현실을 보여주는 사례들이다.
[6.11. 한겨레 사설]
