Suspended prison terms have been finalized for two teenage girls who subjected a peer to water torture and filmed and distributed sexually exploitative material of another.
The Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Kook-sik, sentenced a 19-year-old defendant identified as A to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, legal sources said on the 6th. She had been indicted on charges including joint infliction of bodily harm, special intimidation, coercion and violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses.
A 16-year-old co-defendant identified as B, who was tried on charges including joint infliction of bodily harm and violation of the same act, received a one-year prison term suspended for two years.
The two went to the home of a peer identified as C on the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2024. The incident began after they concluded that C was responsible for a friend being assaulted by someone else.
Investigators found that A, after entering the home, threatened C with a weapon and forced her into a bathtub before subjecting her to water torture, while B struck C with a plastic bottle and a wooden spatula as she tried to get out.
The two also put C inside a moving box and kicked it, burned her with cigarettes and forced her to swallow toothpaste, according to the findings. C suffered a spinal sprain and second-degree burns to her face and other areas.
The sex crimes came to light during the investigation. On the 23rd of the same month, A was drinking and playing games with peers at a studio apartment in Seoul's Nowon District when she forced one of them, identified as D, to remove all her clothing as a penalty, coerced her into sexual acts and filmed the acts on a mobile phone, investigators found.
B received the video and, late that same month, distributed it in a social media group chat that included the victim's younger brother and several others, authorities determined.
"In light of the circumstances, content and methods of the crimes, the nature of the offenses is poor," the court said, while noting that "the defendants have admitted to the crimes and shown a remorseful attitude."
"Their personalities were still being formed at the time of the crimes and remain so now, leaving room for future improvement and rehabilitation," the court added. "The sentences took into account that they reached settlements with some of the victims and that they had no prior record of juvenile protective measures or criminal punishment."
Neither prosecutors nor A and B appealed, leaving the first-trial ruling to stand as final.
