South Korean woman punished for biting off tongue of would-be rapist gets retrial
Review of 78-year-old Choi Mal-ja’s case more than 60 years ago marks the country’s evolution in women’s rights
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.
