U.S. army private gets 3-year prison term for raping S. Korean

A regional court on Friday sentenced a U.S. soldier stationed here to three years behind bars for raping a local woman.

The 31-year-old U.S. Army private of an unidentified unit in Chilgok, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was convicted of raping a South Korean woman in her residence last July. The victim's personal information was withheld by the court.

The private, identified only by an initial of his name, "J," had been drinking with the woman who he had gotten to know at a local bar before attacking and sexually assaulting her.

The court also ordered his identity and personal information be published and made available to the public for five years.   

"He deserves a stern punishment as he has shown no remorse for his crime and failed to make enough efforts to compensate the victim or remedy the assault," Judge Kim Kyung-cheol of the Daegu District Court said in the verdict. (Yonhap News)