Moon Taeil, K-Pop idol, is convicted of collective rape in South Korea

Moon Taeil, a former member of the K-pop group NCT, was sentenced on Thursday to three years and six months in prison for involvement in a collective rape case. The crime happened in June 2024 and surfaced after the victim, a Chinese tourist, denounce the singer and two other men, identified only as Lee and Hong.

According to the prosecution, the three met the victim in a bar in the Itaewon district of Seoul, known for the trendy nightlife. Also according to the victim’s lawyers, after consuming alcohol, the three took her unconscious to the house of one of the accused, where they took turns in sexual aggression. During the trial, the prosecution stressed that the crime was premeditated and there was an attempt to make investigations difficult, such as the request to register the taxi race elsewhere.

Prosecutors asked for seven years in prison for each of those involved, a minimum time provided by the South Korean legislation for the crime of collective rape, but the judge of the 26th Criminal Division of the Central District Court of Seoul reduced the penalty in half.

He justified the decision by stating that the three were primary defendants, despite considering the case “extremely serious.”

In addition to the arrest, Taeil and the accomplices must comply with 40 hours of a rehabilitation program aimed at sexual aggressors. The singer’s defense tried to argue that he cooperated with the investigations and reached an agreement with the victim, but the judge rejected any mitigating at the severity of the crime.

The singer was reported days after the rape and gave his first statements in August 2024. He was formally indicted in February this year and the case was on trial since June 18. At the hearing of this day, Taeil admitted the crime, as well as his cronies.

Moon was expelled from the NCT group in October 2024. He was a boyband member since 2016.