A U.S. soldier stationed here will serve a 10-year prison term for the rape of a young Korean woman after an appellate court upheld the initial ruling on Thursday.
The Seoul High Court rejected the appeal from the 21-year-old U.S. Army private of the 2nd Infantry Division and stood behind the heaviest sentence given to a U.S. soldier here in ten years.
In 1992, a U.S. private was jailed for 15 years in a high-profile rape and murder case.
“It is acknowledged that the private was under the influence, but it was not established that he was mentally or physically disabled because of the fact,” said the court ruling.
“The initial sentence cannot be seen as harsh as he raped the then 16-year-old victim in an unimaginably cruel and perverse way.”
The soldier broke into the studio apartment of the teen in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 24 while intoxicated. He threatened her with a pair of scissors and sexually assaulted her.
The sentence reflects the intent of local officials to inflict severe punishment on U.S. soldiers who commit serious offenses such as sex crimes. The case drew attention as both South Korea and the U.S. responded immediately after it was first reported by local media on Sept. 28.
After another rape case in Seoul by a U.S. soldier, the U.S. Forces Korea reestablished a curfew for all military personnel.
“The cruel and perverse acts that the accused committed for three hours after breaking into the victim’s studio apartment was enough to cause her fear and sexual humiliation in the sanctity of her own home,” said Judge Park In-sik in the first ruling.
The Uijeongbu District Court in the same ruling also ordered that the soldier undergo 80 hours in a sexual violence treatment program and that his personal data be disclosed online for 10 years in accordance with the local law.
This is the heaviest sentence given since the Status of Armed Forces Agreement, which governs the legal status of 28,500 U.S. military personnel stationed here, was revised in 2001.
