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Assault case dropped against woman who 'escaped rape' by biting off attacker's tongue
A woman “escaped being raped” by biting off a man's tongue and was later sued by him for injuring him. After concluding that it was self-defense, the prosecution dropped his case last week. Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
The prosecution has dropped an assault case brought up against a woman who escaped an alleged rape attempt by biting off her attacker's tongue, in recognition of self-defense.
The decision by the Busan District Public Prosecutors' Office last week is expected to set a meaningful precedent in a country where self-defense is rarely recognized. In a similar case in 1965, a victim, Choi Mal-ja, received a suspended prison term, which she is now seeking to rectify through a retrial.
The recent case involved a female university student who took a trip to Busan with three friends on July 19, 2020. According to documents obtained by the Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, a man in his 30s offered her a ride after spotting her obviously drunk ― with an alleged intention to rape her. She got into the passenger's seat, thinking he was a taxi driver.
On his way to a remote place, he bought duct tape, a pack of condoms and three bottles of soju. The man parked in the middle of the road on Mount Hwangnyeong in the city's Yeonje District, and shoved his tongue in her mouth ― and she bit it off.
A hiking road on Mount Hwangnyeong in Busan's Yeonje District. Korea Times file
After, the man drove to a nearby police station to report that she had assaulted him.
He insisted that he kissed her with her consent, but evidence, including a black box voice recorder in the car, proved otherwise. Prosecutors examined the evidence and reached the conclusion that he restrained her with the duct tape before forcibly kissing her and that she fought him off in self-defense.
He was arrested and indicted on sexual assault charges.
“Biting off his tongue was the only method of self-defense in this particular situation so it doesn't call for any legal prosecution,” the prosecution said in the document.
Rep. Jung Choun-sook from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who heads the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee, welcomed the prosecution's decision. The case, she said, ran counter to similar “absurd” incidents in the past where victim-blaming has been the norm.
“Considering such nonsense, it was a meaningful case where a rape victim's defiant action was justified as self-defense,” the lawmaker said.