The Infamous Rape Case That Caused An Uproar In Korea
By: Amelia Z
Tags: Rape, Culture, Korea, Crime, Storytelling

The Assault

In the morning, Nayoung was walking to school and she came across Cho who was drunk. They were complete strangers to each other. He kidnapped and dragged her to a nearby church.

He pulls her to a bathroom stall and nobody was around. He tried to rape her but Nayoung was fighting back as she was trying to escape. Cho didn’t like the way she behaved. He fought back by punching her several times which caused her to cry. He viciously bit her cheek to the point that it was swollen and almost falling out. He strangled her until she was unconscious. Cho tore her clothes and raped her in her private areas and her ears.

There is no doubt that there are surveillance cameras everywhere in Korea that provides pieces of evidence of this crime. However, he believed that a way to remove some evidence is by removing his DNA from her. So, he grabbed a plunger and used it on her. This caused severe ruptures on her lower intestines which ended up slipping out of her body therefore Cho just placed her intestines back to their position.

He assaulted her once more and tried to drown her. He left the cold water running to remove his DNA and left the scene.

She regained consciousness and crawled out of the bathroom. The neighbors found her and immediately helped her to go to the hospital. She was in surgery for 8 hours and the doctors tried to repair the damaged organs but it was too late as the color of her organs were black.

To this day, her organs still don’t work and require medical assistance. It was stated that it took 8 months of intense treatment. The damage was categorized as third-degree disabilities.

Two days later, the police arrested Cho as they found fingerprints and blood stains in the crime scene. Cho claimed that he was drunk the day before therefore he can’t remember any details of what happened that morning.

When the police were questioning the 8-year-old Nayoung, they were doing it in front of other patients in the hospital room which should be done privately. Unfortunately, the police made Nayoung go to the police station and interviewed her for hours. This is because they forgot or didn’t know how to use the recording devices therefore they had to do the interview 4 more times. In addition, they made her sit in an uncomfortable hard chair when she just had surgery done in the lower half of her body and had bodily bags attached to her.

The Trials

The police believed that Nayoung should testify in front of her attacker because it was difficult to know how much to charge someone with limited evidence so this testimony was the only way. This caused anger in the community because she was only 8 years old. Nayoung was still in her recovery period where a hole was drilled in her stomach and 80% of her organs were actively bleeding. She wore garments to help her but they were soon soaked in blood.

In the trial, the defense attorney asked her, “Did you smell alcohol on him?” Nayoung honestly answers, “Yes.”

This caused a reduction in his sentence.

A law in Korea states that if you are physically and mentally weak/disabled, you will not be punished for a full sentence. This includes being drunk. This suggests that when you are under the influence of alcohol and you commit a crime, you will receive a shorter sentence compared to a person who was sober.

Initially, Cho received a life sentence. This is because of this assault and his previous crimes. He had 17 arrests in his criminal record, he served 3 and a half years for rape and assault, and 7 and a half years of his other crimes. Cho demanded a retrial and so it was given to him. His defense attorney kept defending him about how he was very drunk. Cho defended himself by saying,

“I am not the type of sick monster who rapes an 8-year-old girl. I was under severe influence of alcohol. It destroyed me.”

Eventually, the judge stated that he was mentally and physically too weak from alcohol. His sentence is now 12 years in prison and will be released in December 2020.