K-pop star Moon Taeil jailed three and half years for rape

South Korean singer and former NCT band member, Moon Taeil, has been sentenced one month after pleading guilty to a r@pe charge.

Taeil, 31, whose real name is Moon Tae-il, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison alongside two others at Seoul Central District Court on Thursday, July 10, according to the BBC, The New York Times and The Korea Herald.

Taeil and two others were accused of r@ping an intoxicated Chinese tourist who visited South Korea last year, according to the Times. According to the indictment obtained by the outlets, Taeil and two others reportedly met with the woman at a bar in the Itaewon district of Seoul, and after several drinks, they then took her to one of their homes where she was s£xually assaulted.

“The defendants took turns committing sexual acts against the victim, who was severely intoxicated and unable to resist. The nature of the crime is particularly grave,” the Judge Lee Hyun-kyung said, per the Times.

“As a foreign tourist assaulted in an unfamiliar environment, the victim likely experienced significant psychological distress,” the court added, per the outlet.

Last month, Taeil and the two others pleaded guilty to charges of special quasi-r@pe, a charge in which two or more people engage in s£xual acts with someone in a state of unconsciousness, per The Korea Herald.

The prosecution sought a seven-year prison sentence for the three men, however, due to it being their first offense, the court determined that they would serve half of that, along with completing 40 hours of a treatment program for sexual violence, according to the BBC.

In August 20 2024, NCT announced that it was parting ways with Taeil after the singer was accused of a “s£xual crime.” The group did not give any more details about the accusations at the time.

The group’s label, SM Entertainment, announced the news in an official statement shared on X, saying in a post translated by the Associated Press that the group “recognized the seriousness of the issue, and we have decided that Taeil can no longer continue team activities.”

“We have discussed this matter with Taeil, and it has been decided that he will leave the group,” the statement added.

Taeil isn’t the first K-pop star to be imprisoned due to s£x-related charges.

In 2021, Seungri, a former member of the K-pop group Big Bang, was sentenced to three years in prison for s£xual solicitation and gambling. K-pop stars Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon were sentenced to six and five years in prison, respectively after being found guilty of r@ping intoxicated women.

Taeil was an original member of NCT, or Neo Culture Technology, which was founded in 2016. He was also part of one of its sub-groups, NCT 127.

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