Just Let a Runaway Younger Sibling Stay Over... Man Falsely Accused of Sexual Harassment Ultimately

"Provided Shelter to Runaway Youth, Accused of Sexual Assault"
1st Trial Not Guilty, "Victim Female Student's Testimony Inconsistent"

A father's story has been shared about his college-aged son who was accused of sexual harassment after letting a runaway youth stay at his place. The photo shows the inside of the son's one-room apartment. JTBC 'Sageon Banjang' (Incident Commander)

A story about a man who was accused of sexual harassment after letting runaway teenagers stay over has sparked public outrage.

On the 2nd, JTBC's 'Case Manager' introduced the story of a man whose college-aged son recently experienced such an incident. The informant's son, Mr. A, received a message last year from neighborhood kids two years younger than him, whom he knew well, asking, "We ran away from home, so please let us sleep at your studio apartment." Accordingly, Mr. A let one female student and two male students stay overnight in his one-room apartment.

However, a problem arose the next day. The female student who stayed over claimed that Mr. A sexually harassed her the previous night. She alleged, "Mr. A took off my clothes while I was asleep, touched specific body parts, and performed obscene acts alone." Afterwards, the runaway students demanded Mr. A pay a settlement of 6 million won, saying, "Sexual harassment of minors is a serious crime," and threatened to report him to the police if he did not comply.

Mr. A insisted, "I did not touch her," but feeling terrified by the ongoing threats, he handed over about 170,000 won that he had on him. Upon learning of this later, the informant filed a complaint against the runaway students for joint extortion and other charges, claiming his son Mr. A was being bullied. In response, the female student also countersued Mr. A for sexual assault.

The informant expressed frustration, saying, "They often made my son, who is two years older, run errands to buy cigarettes, borrowed money and never repaid it. They took advantage of him because they thought he was easy to manipulate." The informant’s legal representative also stated, "The runaway students treated him like a subordinate, giving orders like 'Attention!' and 'At ease!' as if playing with him." The runaway students explained this by saying, "Our hyung (Mr. A) was feeling down, so we were just joking to cheer him up."

Furthermore, the informant claimed that the runaway students called out Mr. A and threatened him, saying they had many friends who were good at fighting and knew delinquent friends, and coerced him into making false confessions. In fact, one of the students sent a text message saying, "I threatened hyung and recorded a video because they said they would give me 1 million won," and added, "I hope he forgives me."

The first trial court, which handled the case, ruled Mr. A not guilty in August, citing inconsistencies in the female student's testimony and the fact that she stayed one more day at Mr. A’s house after the alleged sexual assault. The prosecution appealed the first trial verdict, arguing that "the changes in the female student's testimony are simply due to memory confusion" and "there is no evidence that the informant’s son was assaulted or had money extorted."

Netizens who came across this story reacted with comments such as, "Do we have to live with a recorder always on?" "Kids these days are scary," "This is not the work of someone who has only threatened once or twice," "Did they intentionally ask to be let stay over?" "These kids have already learned only bad things," "If the testimony had been consistent, would he have been helplessly labeled a minor sexual offender?" and "The world is really scary."