Apology for S Korean woman convicted of biting man’s tongue as he attacked her

Prosecutors in South Korea have apologised to a woman who was convicted for defending herself during a sexually violent attack more than 60 years ago.

Choi Mal-ja was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, for biting off part of her attacker’s tongue as he allegedly tried to rape her in 1964, when she was 18 years old.

Inspired by the country’s #MeToo movement, Ms Choi, now 78, has campaigned for years to have her conviction overturned.

Her retrial began in the city of Busan on Wednesday, where prosecutors issued an apology and asked for the court to quash her guilty verdict.

“For 61 years, the state made me live as a criminal,” Ms Choi told reporters outside the court ahead of the hearing.

She said she hoped future generations could live a happy life free from sexual violence.

At the start of the trial, Busan’s Chief Prosecutor Jeong Myeong-won said “we sincerely apologise”.

“We have caused Choi Mal-ja, a victim of a sex crime who should have been protected as one, indescribable pain and agony.”

A final ruling is scheduled for 10 September, with legal observers expecting the court to overturn Ms Choi’s conviction.

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Ms Choi raised her fist and said: “We won!”

She celebrated by embracing campaigners from civic organisations who were there to support her.

In 1964, an 18-year-old Choi Mal-ja was attacked by a 21-year-old man, who forced his tongue into her mouth as he pinned her to the ground in the southern town of Gimhae, according to court records.

Ms Choi escaped the attack by biting off 1.5cm (0.59in) of the aggressor’s tongue.

The man was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, for trespassing and intimidation. He was never convicted of attempted rape.

Ms Choi was given a harsher sentence than her attacker for causing him grievous bodily harm.

The court at the time said her actions had exceeded the “reasonable bounds” of self-defence.

Ms Choi’s case has since been cited in legal textbooks in South Korea as a classic example of a court failing to recognise self-defence during sexual violence.

After taking inspiration from South Korea’s #MeToo movement in the late 2010s, Ms Choi contacted advocacy groups to begin work on petitioning for a retrial.

She filed a petition in 2020, 56 years after the attack, but it was initially rejected by the lower courts. Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled that Ms Choi’s retrial could go ahead.

Her fight for justice became well known in South Korea, with Ms Choi and fellow activists holding protests outside the Supreme Court building in Seoul.

“I still can’t believe it,” Ms Choi said after Wednesday’s hearing, the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reported.

“But if the prosecution is admitting its mistake even now, then I believe justice is alive in this country.”