Overview

• Moon Tae-il and two co-defendants were convicted under South Korea’s special quasi-rape statute for sexually assaulting a heavily intoxicated foreign tourist at a private residence after meeting in an Itaewon bar in June 2024.
• Seoul Central District Court sentenced all three to three and a half years in prison—half the term sought by prosecutors—and took them into custody immediately over flight risk concerns.
• Judges reduced the sentences by crediting the defendants’ first-offender status, admissions of guilt and a settlement in which the victim declined further punishment.
• All three men must complete a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program, have their personal details disclosed and are barred for five years from working in child- and youth-related institutions.
• Online reactions criticized the lightened sentences as too lenient, fueling debate over the adequacy of sexual crime penalties in the K-pop industry.