A South Korean court on Wednesday acquitted Choi Mal-ja, now 79, of a 1964 conviction that followed her biting off part of a man’s tongue while trying to escape an assault when she was 18. The Busan district court ruled her actions were "justifiable self-defence," overturning a sentence first handed down more than six decades ago.
Choi was originally convicted of grievous bodily harm and sentenced in 1965 to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, after removing about 1.5 centimetres of the attacker’s tongue. The man, identified only as Roh, was 21 at the time; he received a lighter suspended sentence of six months on charges of trespassing and intimidation, and was not charged with attempted rape at the original trial.
The court said Choi’s actions should now be "deemed an attempt to escape an unjust infringement on her bodily integrity and sexual self-determination," language that framed the act as a defensive response to sexual violence. In the first hearing of the retrial in July, prosecutors apologised to Choi and, in a rare move, asked the court to quash the decades-old conviction.
Choi told reporters after the ruling that she persisted in seeking exoneration to provide hope for other victims of sexual violence. "I could not let this case go unanswered... I [wanted] to stand up for other victims who share the same fate as mine," she said. Outside the court, supporters held placards reading messages such as "Choi Mal-ja did it!" and "Choi Mal-ja succeeded."
At the 1965 trial, judges and police are recorded as having distrusted Choi’s account; court records show she was questioned about whether she had affection for the man and was even told she should marry him. She spent six months in jail during the investigation before the suspended sentence was imposed. The attacker later demanded compensation for his injury and reportedly broke into Choi’s home armed with a kitchen knife, according to material submitted during the retrial.
Choi began seeking to overturn the conviction in 2018 after being inspired by South Korea’s #MeToo movement. She contacted the Women’s Hotline and began collecting evidence. She filed for a retrial in 2020, but lower courts initially rejected her petition. In December 2024 the Supreme Court accepted the case and ordered a retrial, setting the stage for the Busan district court’s decision this week.
Legal scholars and campaigners have long cited Choi’s case in South Korean law textbooks and discussions as an example of how courts can fail to recognise self-defence in the context of sexual violence. The new ruling alters that legal understanding for this case, with the court explicitly recognising the act as an attempt to escape a sexual assault.
Choi’s lawyer, Kim Soo-jung, said the client plans to file a civil suit against the state to seek compensation for the damages she suffered from the conviction and its consequences. Prosecutors’ unusual decision to apologise and request the conviction be quashed at the earlier hearing marked a notable step in the retrial process and underscored changing attitudes within parts of the legal system toward historical handling of sexual violence cases.
The ruling closes a legal chapter that began in a southern town, Gimhae, in 1964, while raising questions about how other historical cases of sexual assault and self-defence might be reassessed under evolving legal and social standards. The court’s judgment and the path to retrial highlight shifts in South Korea’s public discourse on sexual violence since the rise of the #MeToo movement and the renewed scrutiny of past prosecutions and convictions.