Retrial opens for South Korean woman who bit off attempted rapist's tongue
Choi Mal-ja was 19 when she was attacked by a 21-year-old man in the southern town of Gimhae in 1964.
He pinned her to the ground and forced his tongue into her mouth, court records showed. Choi managed to break free by biting off about 1.5cm of his tongue.
In one of South Korea's most contentious rulings on sexual violence, the aggressor received only six months in prison, suspended for two years, for trespassing and intimidation - but not attempted rape.
But Choi was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
The court said at the time her action had "exceeded the reasonable bounds of legally permissible self-defence".
Choi's case gained renewed momentum decades later after #MeToo movement, which took off globally in 2017 and inspired her to seek justice.
In South Korea, massive women's rights protests led to victories on issues ranging from abortion access to tougher penalties for spycam crimes.
Choi filed for a retrial in 2020, but lower courts initially rejected her petition.
After years of campaigning and an appeal, South Korea's top court finally ordered a retrial in 2024.
"For 61 years, the state made me live as a criminal," Choi told reporters outside the Busan District Court ahead of Wednesday's retrial hearing.
She said she hoped future generations could "live in a world free from sexual violence where they can enjoy human rights and a happy life".
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2 days ago
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Woman with 5 properties wanted elderly dad's 4 homes
A real estate tycoon who liked to buy property for his children became entangled in a bitter lawsuit when one of his daughters ironically claimed that she was a co-owner of his own investment properties. The 90-year-old businessman, who is illiterate, got caught up in this dispute only because he wanted to use the proceeds from the sale of four investment properties to buy a home for a grandson. It was then that he discovered that he was not the sole owner of these properties. His youngest daughter, who helped him with the paperwork for the purchase of the homes for around $11 million in all between 2004 and 2018, had also inserted her name as a co-owner. This was on top of the five homes she already owned in her own name. To make matters worse, the daughter objected to the sale, claiming that all four homes, which are likely to be worth a lot more today, were hers as they were gifts from her father. The elderly man was so upset that he sued his daughter to reclaim the properties. He related his case in the Hokkien dialect and struck High Court Judge Choo Han Teck as a credible witness who testified without embellishment or deception. Justice Choo not only found that the man had bought the four properties for himself as investments, but he also believed his claim that his daughter had taken advantage of his inability to read by putting her name on the title deeds. The daughter argued that her name was included as a co-owner because her father had intended to give her these properties. But this claim did not gel with her father's practice of buying properties for each of his six children in their own names. Indeed, this daughter had five properties purchased in her name by her father, of which three have since been sold. "That exposes the flaw in (her) contention that the (father) gave the four properties to her as joint tenant," Justice Choo added. "Were that his intention, he would have given them to her in her sole name, just as he did with those five properties and all the ones he gave to his other children." So he ruled that the four disputed properties were solely owned by the father and that his daughter was merely holding them for him. He also gave the order to sell the four properties according to the father's wishes. Justice Choo said: "The defendant describes herself as a filial daughter. It is a description open to debate, depending on whether one thinks that a filial child would surrender to the parents what her parents want, regardless of whether the child thinks it fair or deserving." But this was a "philosophical issue", and the father did not need extrajudicial considerations to bolster his case because he managed to prove his claim adequately. The evidence suggested that the family was a "close-knit" one until the father chose to make more gifts by selling his own properties. 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In this case, the daughter appeared guarded and evaded answering questions directly many a time regarding her claim over her father's properties. So she gathered four of her siblings to support her case that their father had intended to give the properties to her as a joint owner. But Justice Choo found their testimonies unhelpful because they repeated each other's words "in a concerted effort to press home a point in which they had no personal knowledge". Not surprisingly, this strategy backfired because it led the judge to find the daughter's case was not convincing. This was especially so since she did not stake her claim to ownership on the properties when her father first informed her of his decision to sell the real estate in 2019. The judge noted that she was probably caught unprepared then, and had no time to fabricate her present claim that her father had bought the properties for her. He added that her conduct and her testimony in court left him with the clear impression that having persuaded the father to secure the mortgage in their joint names, the natural consequence of registering the property similarly in their joint names became naturally advantageous to her because of the father's age. "I am of the view that she was prepared to inherit the entire property through the right of survivorship. The (father's) decision to sell the properties spoilt (her) plans," Justice Choo added. What this means is that it often does not pay to stake claims on assets that are not yours because the law always has a way to deny these and return the assets to the rightful owners.
CNA
4 days ago
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Sri Lanka orders Singapore shipowner to pay US$1 billion over marine disaster
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