A man in his 20s forced to imitate a woman and sexually harassed... Military junior subjected to harsh treatment, suspended prison sentence

Published 13 Jan.2020 17:47(KST)

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] A man in his 20s who forcibly molested a junior soldier and committed other acts of abuse during his military service was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

The Criminal Division 12 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Byung-chan) announced on the 13th that A (25), who was tried on charges including forcible molestation of a soldier, special assault, and abuse of power, was sentenced to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension. The court also ordered A to attend 40 hours of sexual violence treatment lectures.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "In this case, the defendant forcibly molested the victim during military service and repeatedly committed acts of abuse by exercising power such as his senior position. Considering the nature and method of each crime, the criminality is serious. However, we took into account that the victim and the defendant reached an amicable agreement."

A was prosecuted for forcibly molesting B, a junior soldier, by touching and pinching his chest area in August 2018 while serving in an army division.

A is also accused of abuse a month before the incident by tying B’s jaw to the crown of his head with a nylon string in a ribbon shape and forcing him to imitate a woman. It was investigated that A exercised power by cutting underwear into a tank top shape and making B wear it.

Additionally, in September of the same year, A reportedly ordered B to catch more than 10 mosquitoes before sleeping and forced him to drink 1.5 liters of cola at once.

This case was initially investigated by military prosecutors but was transferred to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office after A was discharged at the end of 2018.