Sejong Residential Facility for Disabled Still Has CCTV Blind Spots

A residential facility for disabled individuals in Sejong City has installed 14 additional CCTV cameras following an alleged abuse incident, but it has been confirmed that areas of the living space remain unmonitored (blind spots). The facility informed Sejong City in its April operational improvement implementation status report that while 14 cameras were added focusing on common areas, blind spots in parts of the living room areas of the private rooms were not resolved.

Installation has been on hold for two months as residents expressed their refusal due to privacy concerns. Although the facility stated it would address residents' discomfort through interviews and proceed with installation later, the same issue has been deferred in the May implementation status report with a plan for a "third-quarter inspection in July," leaving it on hold for two months.

Currently, 28 residents, including 23 with intellectual disabilities, are housed at the facility. Considering the high number of residents with severe intellectual disabilities who have limited communication abilities, it is unclear how specifically residents expressed their "refusal." Following an abuse ruling concerning a resident with severe intellectual disabilities in their 40s, Sejong City issued a corrective order to the facility. The plan to install CCTV cameras to eliminate blind spots has not been implemented.

In a joint investigation conducted immediately after the suspected abuse report, Sejong City reviewed three days of CCTV footage from before the report, but no separate preservation measures were taken, leading to the footage being deleted upon expiration of its storage period. After the suspected abuse report, the city conducted a joint on-site investigation with advocacy groups and reviewed three days of CCTV footage from before the report. However, separate preservation measures were not taken for footage from the dining area, which was not a living room or shower room where abuse was suspected. Ultimately, the footage was deleted due to expiration of the storage period, and the city did not produce any official documents such as its own investigation report.

There is no legal obligation to install CCTV cameras in residential facilities for disabled individuals. The police are currently reinvestigating the case from scratch. As CCTV installation and operational standards are not legally mandated, the responsibility for resolving blind spots rests with the willingness of the facility and local government. The situation, where the failure to resolve blind spots on newly installed cameras is delayed for over two months due to "resident refusal," despite CCTV absence hindering evidence collection as seen in the Sejong City case, highlights these structural limitations.

A Sejong City official stated, "We are checking the facility's operational improvement implementation status every month and plan to continuously monitor the issue of installing CCTV cameras in blind spots."