After crime, life goes on for victims at Smile Center

Under Korea's Constitution, only one provision stipulates the state's obligation to provide relief to crime victims: “Citizens who have suffered harm to their life or body due to the criminal acts of others may receive relief from the state as prescribed by law.” Since opening in 2010, Smile Center, the embodiment of that promise, has expanded to 16 centers nationwide as the country's only institution providing integrated support to victims across the full spectrum of violent crime. “Trauma is compounded especially for crime victims because most are navigating police investigations and court proceedings for the very first time,” Baik Myung-jae, director of the Ministry of Justice-affiliated Smile Center Support Headquarters, said in an interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday. “Many cannot return to school or work, falling into financial hardship and watching their daily lives unravel.” Smile Center also serves foreign nationals in Korea, though they account for about 1 percent of the approximately 2,000 annual users, most of them from Southeast Asian countries such as Viet

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