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A woman in her mid-30s who falsely accused her civil servant boyfriend of rape and extorted tens of millions of won from him has been sentenced to prison in a first-instance ruling.

Judge Kim Hyun-ji of Jeonju District Court's Criminal Division 6 sentenced A, 35, to one year in prison on charges including false accusation and blackmail, the court announced Saturday.

According to the ruling, A lured her boyfriend, B, a civil servant, to a coffee shop in May 2022 and began threatening him after he ended their relationship — which had been conducted with marriage in mind — over a dispute about wedding funds.

A demanded that B either pay 30 million won ($19,500) in compensation and continue the relationship, or pay 50 million won to break up. She told him he had "taken her virginity and then gone silent" and should settle before she filed a complaint. She also warned that "a sex crime complaint will follow you until you retire," exploiting his status as a public official.

Feeling the pressure, B signed a written pledge framed as a marriage fund payment and transferred about 30 million won. He later sought legal advice due to severe stress and demanded the money back.

A responded with further threats, saying "civil servants lose their jobs if they are investigated for sex-related offenses." When B, pushed to his limit, filed a complaint against her, A filed a counter-complaint alleging rape. She also contacted B's superiors and demanded that he face personnel disadvantages, leaving B on the verge of being removed from his post and causing him severe harm.

During the trial, A maintained that she had genuinely been sexually assaulted and that the money B paid was a settlement he had offered after unilaterally breaking off the engagement.

The court rejected her claims after reviewing objective evidence including recorded phone calls and text messages. It found that the sexual intercourse appeared to have been consensual and that the complaint was false and contradicted by the facts. The court also said it was difficult to accept that A had continued a relationship with B with marriage in mind even after allegedly being raped multiple times.

However, the court declined to detain A in the courtroom, taking into account that the rape complaint had been closed without referral for prosecution and that the possibility of recovering damages for the victim warranted consideration.


bbo@heraldcorp.com