After many years, justice has finally been served. A South Korean woman has been granted a retrial over 60 years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm for biting off part of a man’s tongue who she claimed was attempting to rape her. The high court in Busan has recently approved the request for a retrial by the woman, now 78 years old, after she has spent five years fighting to clear her name. The initial verdict is considered a grave example of the failures of South Korean courts to protect victims of sexual violence.
During the original trial, it was revealed that Mrs. Choi was walking on a street in Gimhae on May 6, 1964, when a man approached her asking for directions. Mrs. Choi kindly offered to guide him and as they entered an alley, the man, identified as Roh, pushed her to the ground. Despite her struggles, Roh pinned her to the ground multiple times. Mrs. Choi testified that Roh attempted to forcefully kiss her by pinching her nose, prompting her to bite him in self-defense before fleeing.
Subsequently, Roh and a group of about 10 individuals attacked Mrs. Choi and her family at their residence, brandishing knives and demanding compensation for Roh’s injuries. Mrs. Choi’s family filed charges for attempted rape, trespassing, and threatening behavior, while Roh counter-sued for inflicting a serious injury. Prosecutors dropped the attempted rape charge against Roh and disregarded Mrs. Choi’s claims of self-defense, sentencing her to a 10-month suspended term for causing injury, with Roh receiving a suspended six-month term.
Mrs. Choi expressed her humiliation at being pressured to repeatedly re-enact the moment of the forced kiss, even in front of the media. The court went as far as suggesting that the most suitable resolution would be for the two to marry. Reflecting on the traumatic experience, Mrs. Choi shared in a 2023 interview with the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper how she still struggles to sleep when recalling those distressing moments, emphasizing the injustice of treating the victim as the perpetrator.
Initially denied a retrial in 2021, Mrs. Choi persisted in her pursuit of justice and appealed to the South Korean Supreme Court until her plea was finally granted. A date for her new trial is yet to be scheduled. This case bears similarities to a more recent event where a woman was acquitted of criminal charges in 2020 after her alleged rapist accused her of “excessive self-defense” for biting off part of his tongue. The assailant, in his thirties, had encountered the woman in an inebriated state on a Busan street and offered to escort her to her hotel. Instead, he took her to a secluded location and sexually assaulted her. In defense, the woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, bit off approximately 3cm of the man’s tongue during the assault.
