Lacquer graffiti opposing the coeducation transition covers walls on the Dongduk Women's University campus. [Yonhap]
Lacquer graffiti opposing the coeducation transition covers walls on the Dongduk Women's University campus. [Yonhap]

Eleven current and former students of Dongduk Women's University, charged with property destruction and other offenses stemming from a sit-in protest against the school's proposed coeducation transition in 2024, denied all charges Wednesday at their first trial hearing.

Judge Kim Bo-ra of the Seoul Northern District Court's Criminal Division 13 presided over the opening hearing for 11 defendants, including Choi, the student body president at the time, who face charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, including obstruction of business, refusal to vacate and property destruction.

The defendants are accused of occupying the university's main building for 24 days between November and December 2024 in protest against the school's plan to go coeducational, and of spray-painting lacquer on campus facilities during that period.

One defendant, identified only as Lee, also faces a charge of joint unlawful confinement under the Act on Punishment of Violent Acts for allegedly jamming a broom handle through the door handle of the university president's secretariat office, preventing a staff member inside from leaving.

All 11 defendants said they deny every count in the indictment.

On the obstruction of business charge, they argued that the occupation could not be said to have disrupted staff operations, and that even if some disruption had occurred, there had been no use of force or criminal intent.

On the refusal-to-vacate charge, some defendants said they were not present in the main building or other occupied areas at the times specified in the indictment, while others said they never directly received an evacuation order from the university.

Choi's defense said she had gone to the occupied site at the university's request to ask students to leave, not because she had been there from the start. "There was no way to get them to vacate — it was not a situation where that was possible," her lawyers said.

Other defendants rebuffed the charges, saying they had only been at the occupied site briefly to clean up or manage supplies and had never stayed there with the intent to occupy it.

The defendants acknowledged spray-painting lacquer on the lobby, pillars and walls of the main building and on the exterior staircase of the centennial hall, but argued that the act did not constitute property destruction because the utility and value of the facilities had not been impaired.

Under the Criminal Act, property destruction is defined as impairing the utility of another person's property, documents or electronic records through damage, concealment or other means.

Judge Kim scheduled a Sept. 16 hearing to receive the defendants' responses to evidence submitted by prosecutors.

Dongduk Women's University had earlier estimated damages from the occupation at about 4.6 billion won ($3.12 million) and filed a police complaint in the university president's name against Choi and 20 others, but later withdrew it.

Because the charges of property destruction and obstruction of business are not among the offenses that require the victim's wish to prosecute, police continued their investigation and referred the case to prosecutors in June last year.

The Dongduk Women's University Student Union at the time posted a statement on SNS pushing back against the indictment. "We want to ask prosecutors whether pursuing criminal punishment in a matter arising from an internal university dispute serves the public interest," the statement read. "We express serious concern that the decision to indict is highly inappropriate and could have a chilling effect on the broader student community."


husn7@heraldcorp.com