Korea’s top court ruled that a professor who accused a colleague of raping her was not guilty of defamation, even if prosecutors previously declined to indict the man on sexual assault charges.
The professor faced charges for allegedly spreading false information in three interviews with reporters in April 2021, in which she said that her colleague had raped her.
Prosecutors also charged the professor for posting a petition on the Blue House website in May that year titled “The school is trying to cover up a rape,” writing that she was “raped by a professor who worked at the same [research] center.”
The professor filed a police report against her colleague in February 2021, accusing him of rape. Police declined to forward the case for prosecution, saying there was insufficient evidence to support the allegation.
After the professor challenged the decision, prosecutors reviewed the case and concluded that the evidence, including phone conversations and statements from the two professors, did not support the allegation. The accused colleague was not indicted.
The accused colleague later filed a police report against the professor for defamation.
A lower court initially convicted the professor and sentenced her to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.
The court ruled that “her remarks and online post constituted false statements” and found that she had written the post identifying the colleague “with the intent to defame [him].” It accepted the colleague’s claim that the two had attempted to have consensual sex but ultimately did not have intercourse.
An appellate court later overturned the conviction and acquitted the professor.
“The investigators’ decision not to indict the colleague did not automatically prove that the professor’s claim of rape was false,” the appellate court said.
It also said prosecutors had not proven the allegation false to the level required for criminal punishment.
The court cited several factors, including polygraph tests in which both parties showed deceptive responses and a remark the colleague made during a phone call saying, “I think I made a big mistake that day.”
The Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s ruling, according to officials on Thursday.
“There was no error in the lower court’s judgment, such as violating the rules of logic and experience and exceeding the bounds of the principle of free evaluation of evidence, or misunderstanding legal principles regarding the duty of ex officio review.”
With the ruling, the criminal cases involving both parties have effectively concluded.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI SEO-IN [[email protected]]
