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Woman charged with attempted rape for first time in S. Korea

April 3, 2015
(Yonhap)

(Yonhap)

By Jhoo Dong-chan

The prosecution has indicted a woman for the attempted rape of a man, the first such indictment in Korea since a related law was revised in June 2013 to include men as potential rape victims.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday that the woman, identified only by her surname Jeon, 45, allegedly drugged her boyfriend, 51, and attempted to rape him.

According to the prosecution, Jeon, a divorcee, met him at a bicycle club in 2011. Although he was a married man with children, the two dated for four years. As he tried to end the relationship in August, Jeon pleaded with him to meet her for the last time at her home.

There, Jeon allegedly gave him a red ginseng tea spiked with a sleeping pill, called Zolpidem.

After he fell asleep, Jeon stripped and tied him on the bed with rope and towels, trying to have a sex with him, the prosecution said.

But he suddenly woke up and tried to unshackle himself, and Jeon allegedly hit him with a hammer, saying, “It is all over. I am going to kill you.” She was also accused of battery.

This is the first time a woman has been indicted for attempted rape since the law revision. Before the change, only “females” were defined as potential victims of rape or attempted rape, so women attempting to rape or raping men were charged with sexual molestation by force. While rapists face a minimum of three years in prison, those convicted of sexual molestation by force used to get lighter punishments.

Jeon’s case is not, however, the first time a man has been the victim of an alleged rape or attempted rape in Korea. In a previous case, the offender was also male.

In November, an army sergeant first-class was indicted and arrested for allegedly raping his junior several times from March to October of last year.

2 Comments

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  2. Paul

    April 4, 2015 at 1:47 PM

    This is not the first time a man has been raped by a woman in South Korea either. It’s simply the first time that the South Korean legal system has attempted to hold a woman responsible for it.

    In that regard it’s ahead of India and Israel, who both attempted to change the law on rape to make it gender neutral and equal and in both countries it was successfully opposed by women’s groups, aka feminists.

    Reply