This 80-year-old woman has waited long enough to be exonerated. This victory follows a complicated legal struggle that started with a brutal white supremacist attack over sixty years ago. In 1962, at the age of 18, Choi bit off part of a 21-year-old man’s tongue during what she described as an attempted rape in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city. Her conviction for aggravated bodily injury has sparked contentious discussions. These conversations highlight the failures of the South Korean justice system towards survivors of gender-based violence.
Choi’s case started when she criticized herself because she successfully defended herself with her attacker who had attempted rape. Following the event, she was charged and convicted of biting off 1.5 cm of the man’s tongue. Consequently, she was given a 10-month prison sentence, the term suspended for two years. Ever since her arrest, Choi has argued that what she did was a justified reaction to a direct threat.
In July 2020, Choi made the choice to focus on getting a retrial. What initially motivated her was a gender studies course she took as an adult student and the energizing world-wide #MeToo movement. Now, she was able to prove that her primary arrest was illegal. She alleged that there had been an illegal six-month-long detention without a valid warrant against her. The retrial culminated in a hearing where South Korean prosecutors, acknowledging past failures, publicly apologized to Choi and sought her acquittal.
Chief prosecutor Jeong Myeong-won personally attended day of the retrial, called Choi several times by name instead of “defendant.” In a statement regarding the case, he remarked, “The prosecution failed in its role and went in the opposite direction.” By acknowledging this reality, the bill signals an important new direction in the legal story often told in cases of self-defense in response to sexual violence.
Once the verdict was pronounced Choi erupted outside the Busan district court with fist held sky high. She shouted in joyous disbelief, “We did it!” Her case has become emblematic of the struggles many women face in seeking justice against sexual violence in South Korea.
Choi expressed her hopes for future generations, stating, “I have lived 61 years as a criminal. My hope and dream now is that Korea will make laws so our descendants can live with their human rights protected in a world without sexual violence.”