The Seoul High Court yesterday overturned the conviction by a lower court of a 49-year old taxi driver who had been charged with the rape of a 19-year old U.S. female soldier.
The man had received a 10-month prison term in the original trial after being convicted of luring the newly-arrived servicewoman from Incheon International Airport to a hotel near there where the woman said he raped her.
The woman reported the incident to U.S. military authorities, who asked for assistance from Korean prosecutors.
The appeals court ruled that the woman had shown no evidence of having refused the man’s advances, and that he used “not enough violence to constitute rape.”
Friday, May 15, 2009
Fifth anniversary of this ruling.
From the Joongang Ilbo:
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3 comments:
Korea: where ajosshi justice is more like "just us".
Yeah because when you're 19 and you step off a 14 hour plane ride from NA to Seoul, the first thing you're thinking is "man, I gotta get me some 50ish cab driver tail".
Jesus christ.
The same Joongang article said that "the prosecution said it would take the matter to the Supreme Court," and I was wondering about this when I'd read it somewhere else: Does anyone know what (if anything) came of the prosecution's appeal (unlike the US, I believe punishments can be upped or reinstated on appeal).
What I'd like to know is the background of the particular judges of the Seoul High Court involved in overturning the conviction. They were appointed by whom?
The way to eliminate some of these ridiculous judicial decisions in the Korean courts — particularly those that seem to come from a general disregard for women who have been victims of sexual assault — may be to excise a few particular judges.
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