On July 10, the 26th criminal court of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced former Kpop boy group NCT member Taeil (real name Moon Taeil, 31 years old), along with two other defendants, each to 3 years and 6 months in prison, for special-level rape.
The court also required the defendants to complete a 40-hour education program on sexual violence, publicize personal information as a sex crime in the locality where they reside, and prohibit them from working at agencies related to children and adolescents for the next 5 years.
Taeil and two other defendants were arrested shortly after, the court explained: "As the prison terms are being applied, we are concerned that the defendants will flee, so we have issued arrest warrants."
Last month, the prosecutor's office proposed a 7-year prison sentence for Taeil and his accomplices.
Taeil and two other accomplices were brought to trial for special-level rape.
The crime of special-level rape will be established when a person possesses a weapon, or when two or more people together commit a crime against a person who is unable to resist, causing physical or mental damage.
At the trial, all three defendants admitted to raping a Chinese woman while she was drunk last June.
Taeil debuted in April 2016 as an idol singer of boy group NCT U - a small group of NCT under SM Entertainment. Along with the group, Taeil achieved certain popularity, especially in the Japanese and Chinese markets. He then joined another small group of NCT, NCT 127.
However, in August last year, after the rape scandal was exposed, Taeil was removed from NCT and terminated his contract with management company SM Entertainment.
SM's announcement at that time shocked everyone, because the company was the one who proactively announced Taeil's decision to leave the group due to a sexual assault claim, even though no Korean newspaper or media channel had reported it.
