Secretly urinating on a stranger constitutes forced molestation, the Supreme Court said Friday, overturning a not guilty verdict by lower courts.

The unnamed defendant in the unusual legal case was charged with secretly peeing on a girl's hair, hoody and padded jumper from behind while she was talking on a cell phone on a bench at an apartment playground in the central city of Daejeon around 11 p.m. on Nov. 25, 2019.

The 33-year-old defendant, known only as a theater actor, allegedly committed the indecent act after stopping his car on a road in a fit of anger and following the girl, who was 18 years old at that time, to the playground for no reason.

The victim told police that she had felt something hit her head on the playground but belatedly discovered urine on her hair and clothes after returning home

Both district and appellate courts in Daejeon acquitted the defendant, saying it is difficult to admit that the victim's freedom of sexual self-determination was violated by his behavior, though she felt disgusted because of the urine.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the crime of forced molestation can be established, even if the victim did not clearly recognize that she was being molested in a sexual harassment situation.

The top court then ordered the Daejeon District Court to review the case, expressing an opinion in favor of a guilty verdict.

"The defendant's behavior objectively causes sexual shame or disgust in the general public and runs counter to good sexual morals and can be considered an indecent act by compulsion that infringes on the victim's right to sexual self-determination," the court said.

"It is wrong to say the crime of forced molestation cannot be established just because the victim was not aware of the offense at the moment." (Yonhap)