Monday, Mar. 28, 1994

How Do You Say "Reattach" in Korean?

When Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband's penis last June, the story made headlines around the world. But the impulse is hardly Bobbitt's alone. Indeed, women have cut off penises in countries where there may not even be a market for TV movies on the subject.

--Turkey: Last January, Zeynep Atici allegedly plied boyfriend Abdullah Kemal Konak with drink, tied him up and cut off his penis with a bread knife after he said he was leaving her for another woman; it is uncertain whether his reattached penis will recover sexual function.

--South Korea: Park Su Bom was found outside a motel in January, dying of exposure and blood loss from a penis amputation; his wife and mistress are under investigation.

! --Germany: Heidemarie Siebke was sentenced to three years in jail last month for clubbing neighbor Hans-Joachim Kampioni with a chair and severing his penis with a kitchen knife after they had a few drinks and he badgered her for sex. Kampioni's penis was found in the ruins of his flat, which she had torched, but it was too badly mutilated to be reattached.

--Zimbabwe: Shanangurai Tinarwo pleaded guilty to assault after she allegedly hit her husband over the head with a log and sliced off his penis in January when she found him in bed with another woman; his penis was reattached.