South Korean woman punished for biting off tongue of would-be rapist gets retrial

Mangalore Today News Network

South Korea, February 14, 2025: A South Korean woman, 78, who in 1965 received a suspended jail sentence for biting off part of the tongue of a man attempting to rape her will have her case re-examined.

A Busan court on Thursday accepted Choi Mal-ja’s appeal after previous failed retrial bids dating back to 2020.

On May 6, 1964, then 18-year-old Choi was sexually attacked near her home by a man, 21, surnamed Noh, with the victim eventually ending the assault by biting off 1.5cm of the aggressor’s tongue.

Choi was found guilty by the Busan District Court of aggravated bodily injury on another despite claiming self-defence. She was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. Her attacker got six months behind bars on a two-year suspension.

In a 2020 interview with The Korea Herald, Choi said the prosecutor even pressured her to marry the man.

“I said I did nothing wrong, and [the prosecutor] said if I didn’t comply, I would have to spend the rest of my life in jail,” Choi added, recounting how she was coerced into accepting her sentence.

She also said her father had exhausted their family savings for a settlement with Noh, yet her attacker had continued to harass her family and later even broke into their house and threatened her and her older sister with a knife.

Choi pursued higher studies in the 2000s and said as she became more educated, she realised the extent of the injustice she had endured, motivating her to seek a retrial with the help of a women’s group that supports victims of sexual violence.

On Thursday, the Busan High Court said Choi’s testimony was “specific and consistent”, after it was ordered by the Supreme Court to review the case. The country’s highest court observed Choi could have been illegally detained when she was being investigated from 1964 to 1965.

“There are enough grounds to believe that there had been unlawful arrest and detention without warrant, as dictated by the Criminal Procedure Act,” the Busan court stated.

Choi had originally requested a retrial with the District Court which had sentenced her decades ago, but was rejected on grounds of insufficient evidence to prove her innocence. She then appealed to the Busan High Court which initially upheld the refusal, but was ordered by the Supreme Court to relook the case after Choi escalated her bid.

Choi’s case marks possible closure for one of South Korea’s most controversial rulings, criticised for failing to protect victims of sexual violence, according to the Korea Times.

The latest development also highlights the evolution of women’s rights in the country. Choi reportedly first sought retrial in 2020 when she was inspired by the global #MeToo movement.

In a 2023 article highlighting Choi’s legal ordeal, The Korea Herald stated: “Though unthinkable and abhorrent today, it was not uncommon for courts of the 1960s and 1970s in South Korea to play matchmaker between rape victims and their rapists.”

The English-language daily also chronicled changes to women’s rights in the country since the 60s, such as the enactment of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act in 1994 and the launching of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2010.