Court Orders Man in 30s to Pay 13 Million Won in Damages for Sexual Relations With 14-Year-Old Met on Social Media

A court has ruled that a man in his 30s, whose conviction for having sexual relations with a 14-year-old minor he met via social media has been finalized, must pay 13 million won in compensation to the victim and her mother.

According to legal circles on October 8, Judge Shin Seung-ah of the Busan District Court Eastern Branch ruled in a damage suit filed by the victim, minor A, and her mother, B, against the man in his 30s, C, ordering that "C shall pay 10 million won to A and 3 million won to B."

According to the judgment, C saw a post uploaded by A on social media in mid-November of last year, contacted her via messenger, and exchanged messages.

Around 2:10 a.m. on November 19 of the same year, C parked his car in front of the main gate of an apartment complex in Busan and had sexual relations with A, who was then 14 years old, in the back seat of the vehicle.

C was indicted on charges of statutory rape of a minor and was sentenced in April to two years and six months in prison suspended for four years.

C appealed, but the appeal was dismissed, finalizing the sentence.

Statutory rape of a minor is a crime that punishes individuals who have sexual relations with children or adolescents, regardless of whether the child consented, in order to protect them, treating the act as equivalent to rape.

Judge Shin stated, "It is considered that this will have a considerable negative impact on A's future emotional development and the formation of healthy sexual values," adding, "A's mother also appears to have suffered considerable psychological distress due to the criminal act committed against her young child."

However, the judge added that taking into account the fact that C paid 7 million won during the first trial of the criminal proceeding as a partial payment for psychological damages, the additional compensation was set at 10 million won for A and 3 million won for B.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.