Woman indicted for attempted rape for first time

A woman in her 40s has been indicted for attempting to rape a man after drugging him, becoming the first woman to face such charges in Korea.

Until June 2013, South Korean law did not acknowledge rape by women and therefore it was impossible for male victims to file complaints with the police.

The law was revised that year to include adult men as potential victims of rape by women.

It was also only in 2012 that the law acknowledged women as capable of raping male teenagers and children.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul, the woman has been charged with attempting to rape her boyfriend, who was married to another woman at the time, after drugging him at her home last year.

She is also charged with attacking him with a blunt instrument as the man tried to escape her home after he regained consciousness. The woman reportedly committed the crime out of anger after the man broke up with her.

The punishment for rape is imprisonment for at least three years. The same punishment may be applied to those who are charged with attempted rape.

However, the law does not acknowledge women as rapists against adult women or female children.

“The crime of rape only refers to the penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ according to the current Korean law,” said an official from the Gender Equality Ministry.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)