"South Gyeongju Sent Apology Letter for Sexual Assault"..Victim Submits Evidence [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

The victim A's side in the sexual assault case involving musical actor South Gyeongju (62) announced that they received an apology contact from South Gyeongju.

On the morning of the 26th, the Criminal Consolidated Division 29 of Seoul Seocho-gu Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Eom Gi-pyo (Director)) held the first pre-trial hearing for South Gyeongju, who is accused of sexual misconduct with a subordinate. Since there is no obligation for the defendant to appear at pre-trial hearings, South Gyeongju did not attend.

Originally, this case was assigned to Criminal Division 13, which handles cases under a single judge; however, the court reassigned it to a consolidated division through a financial settlement procedure. A financial settlement is a process by which the court, considering the seriousness of the matter—such as when issues are complex—changes a case originally handled by one judge into a case jointly tried by three judges.

Despite the victim A's side opposing the move, the court accepted South Gyeongju's request and decided to proceed with a citizen participation trial. "As a result of deliberation, while it is true that the citizen participation trial has structural limitations in fully protecting the victim as the victim's side claims, the defendant also applied for a citizen participation trial, which is a trial that will determine his entire life. Therefore, we have decided to accept the defense team's opinion and proceed with the citizen participation trial procedure," the court explained. It further added, "We will install a partition so that the victim does not directly face the defendant. If the victim feels uncomfortable, we can also order the defendant to leave the courtroom."

Accordingly, the citizen participation trial will be held over two days on November 27 and 30. The court outlined that on the first day, documentary evidence will be examined and witnesses requested by South Gyeongju's side will be summoned for questioning, while on the second day, victim testimony, deliberation procedures, and sentencing proceedings will take place.

Notably, A's legal representative revealed, "(South Gyeongju) sent a KakaoTalk message containing an apology to the victim. He said he could not send it via email, so he sent an apology letter as an attachment through KakaoTalk. He admitted to the criminal facts of this case and will submit it as evidence," drawing attention.

As South Gyeongju has been active without an agency, he has never issued a statement regarding this controversy. Consequently, when reporters questioned South Gyeongju's legal representative upon his departure from the courtroom, the representative remained silent and offered no comment on whether South Gyeongju admitted to the allegations.

Previously, last December, South Gyeongju was accused of sexually assaulting student A at a location in Seoul Seocho-gu. It is reported that A immediately called 112 following the incident. At the time, South Gyeongju denied the allegations during police investigation; however, the police determined that the allegations were credible and transferred the case to the Prosecution Service. Although South Gyeongju's side requested a criminal mediation procedure with the Prosecution Service in an attempt to reach a settlement, it reportedly failed due to the victim's refusal.

Meanwhile, South Gyeongju is a first-generation musical actor who debuted in 1982. Due to the controversy, he ceased all activities after concluding his performance in the musical 'The Show! Silla-Gyeongju' last October, and his position as an associate professor at Hongik University's Department of Performing Arts, majoring in Performing Arts and Musical Theater, was also terminated this March.

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*This content was translated by AI.