The penalty department of the Seoul Central District Court 30 (Richter Kang Doo-Rye) has two men Acc. Acquitted.

The penalty department of the Seoul Central District Court 30 (Richter Kang Doo-Rye) said two men who were accused due to the protection of sexuality and adolescents on the 6th of the last month due to rape. The accused were brought to trial in April 2023 because they raped two victims who were 14 years old at the time of time when they met through an open chat room. Based on the victims' statements from the police investigation, the public prosecutor believed that the accused carried out violence and threats by violently removing the clothing of the victims and strangling them.

However, the court judged that “there is no evidence of the crime”. This is because the victims did not take part in the trial, so the truth of the statement written by the police was not recognized, and as a result it was not possible to use it as evidence. The public prosecutor tried several times to call the victims as witnesses, but the victims finally refused to take part, so that the securing of witnesses was canceled. A legal civil servant said: “There are many cases in which victims are acquitted because they have not participated.”

In the middle of the rapid increase in sexual violence by minors, it is pointed out that proper punishment due to the structure in which it is difficult to prove the charges without proving the victim's court is difficult.

According to the Supreme Public Prosecutor's office on the 4th time, the number of cases of sexual violence against minors reached 8,052 last year, the highest ever. Compared to 4,468 cases five years ago, it almost doubled. The number of sexual crimes in minors increases significantly every year, with 5,715 cases in 2021, 6,972 cases in 2022 and 7,518 cases in 2023. The main reason for the increase in sexual crimes into minors is the spread of digital sexual crimes. When the production and distribution of sexual exploitation products through online messengers became easier, the number of damage cases increased. Digital sexual crimes are classified as sexual exploitation of children and adolescents when the victim is a child or adolescent.

Deeppake (image synthesis for artificial intelligence) is a main example. According to the national police authority, young people made up the majority of 527 from Deepfake Crime from 2021 to 2023, which makes up 59.8% (315). This is significantly higher than with other age groups, such as The change in the social perception of sexual crimes is also cited as the background for the increase in the number of reported cases.

The problem is that many minors who are minors can hesitate due to concerns about secondary damage and psychological shock. In this case, it is difficult to recognize the victim's statement, which increases the possibility of a hands -free system. When the victim refuses to take part, the public prosecutor's office first tries to convince him. It explains that it is a necessary procedure for punishment and encourages the victim to come to court to testify. After the accused has retired, the victim is asked to testify behind closed doors, and if the victim wants to, he will guide the progress of the process and support the accompanying of the processes.

However, if the victim continues to refuse to participate, the only alternative is to use video recordings that contain the victim's statement. In the test phase, the testimony of the victim's statements filmed during the examination is recognized by using the “special provisions for the evidence capacity of video recordings” (Article 30-2 of the Law on Sexual Violence).

However, there are only limited cases that can be used in practice because the requirements are set up strictly. The reasons for non -adaptation, which are defined in the relevant regulations, are the death of the victim, the foreign residence, the physical and mental illness or disability as well as the unknown location. An incumbent senior prosecutor said: “As a result of the active explanation of the reasons for the non -observance of the court proceedings due to mental disorders, there are cases in which special rules were used.”

[Reporter Kang Minwoo]