The Ministry of Justice decided not to appeal the first-trial ruling in the damages suit filed by the victim in the "Busan roundhouse kick case" against the state.
The Ministry of Justice said in a media notice on the 5th that it "decided to forgo an appeal, taking the state's responsibility seriously."
On Feb. [no day given], the Seoul Central District Court ordered the state to pay 15 million won to a victim, a person surnamed Kim, in a damages claim filed against the state. The court said compensation was necessary because the victim suffered mental distress due to an unreasonable investigation. The court also noted that because investigative measures were inadequate, details such as the circumstances of the assailant's sexual violence were not specifically established.
The Busan roundhouse kick case is an assault that occurred in the early morning of May 2022 in Busan, in which a man in his 30s, a person surnamed Lee, followed a victim on the way home and attacked. Lee was found to have knocked the victim down with a roundhouse kick and then moved the victim to a closed-circuit (CC) TV blind spot to attempt sexual violence.
Lee was initially indicted on attempted murder charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison at the first trial. During the appeal, Lee's DNA was additionally detected on the inside of the victim's jeans, leading to the application of attempted rape-murder charges. In Sept. 2023, the Supreme Court finalized a 20-year prison sentence for Lee, who is now serving time.