Former Seoul City Official Denied Sexual Relations... Court Sentenced to Prison (Comprehensive)

Court: "Victim's statements consistent... credible"
Defendant's claims rejected... "Nature of crime not favorable"

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court sentenced a former Seoul mayor’s secretary office employee to prison in the first trial for charges of sexually assaulting a fellow public official. This is the first court ruling on a sexual violence case that occurred within Seoul City Hall.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 31 (Presiding Judge Seongpil Cho) held a sentencing hearing on the 14th and sentenced Mr. A, who was charged with quasi-rape causing injury, to 3 years and 6 months in prison. The court also ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment program. The court stated, “The crime is serious as the defendant sexually assaulted the victim causing post-traumatic stress injury,” and added, “The crime was committed against a workplace colleague, and the victim has suffered significant secondary damage due to media reports.”

Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of taking a drunken victim to a motel the day before the April 15 general election last year and sexually assaulting her, causing post-traumatic stress disorder requiring more than six months of treatment. Mr. A had been performing protocol duties for the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon for several years before being suspended from his position due to this incident. The prosecution had previously requested an 8-year prison sentence, stating, “He destroyed the future of a young public official entirely.”

During the trial, Mr. A claimed that although there was physical contact on the day of the incident, there was no sexual intercourse. However, the court said, “In sexual crime cases, objective evidence can only exist if the accused records or films it themselves, so the only way is to assess the credibility of the victim’s testimony,” and added, “The victim has consistently testified from the investigation stage to the courtroom.” The court further stated, “Considering the usual relationship between the defendant and the victim, it is difficult to see that the victim intentionally fabricated the story, and the testimony cannot be considered unreliable,” rejecting Mr. A’s claims.

Regarding post-traumatic stress, the court acknowledged, “It appears undeniable that the victim suffered significant mental distress due to former Mayor Park’s sexual harassment,” but judged, “The fundamental cause of the victim receiving psychiatric treatment was the defendant’s actions.” The court also recognized that the victim suffered secondary damage due to media coverage of the case but emphasized again that the main cause of the post-traumatic stress was Mr. A’s crime.

The victim in this case also filed a sexual harassment complaint against former Mayor Park. Last month, the police forwarded the sexual harassment case against former Mayor Park to the prosecution with a non-prosecution opinion (lack of prosecutorial rights). The investigation into the alleged aiding and abetting of harassment by the secretary general and others was also concluded with a “no charges” decision. The prosecution’s investigation results on these cases have not yet been released.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.