7-year prison term confirmed for pastor for sexually abusing teenage girls

The Supreme Court building in Seocho, southern Seoul / Yonhap

The Supreme Court confirmed Monday a seven-year prison term for a 71-year-old church pastor convicted of sexually abusing two teenage sisters at a children's welfare center repeatedly in 2008.

The pastor had denied the charges that he sexually molested the sisters, 17 and 14 at the time, frequently in his office in Chuncheon, 85 kilometers northeast of Seoul, in the summer of 2008, but two lower courts sentenced him to seven years in prison based on consistent testimonies from the victims, and the top court upheld the ruling.

A separate civil damages suit by the sisters against the pastor is also under way. (Yonhap)