[Yonhap]
[Yonhap]

A restaurant owner indicted without detention on charges of groping a part-time worker in her 20s has been sentenced to a fine.

Judge Kim Yeon-su of the Chungju Branch of Cheongju District Court sentenced the restaurant owner, identified only as A, to 7 million won ($5,070) on charges of groping a part-time employee under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, which covers workplace sexual misconduct.

A was indicted on charges of groping the part-time worker, identified as B, on four separate occasions in December 2024 at the restaurant he operates.

A was found to have stroked B's head, waist and arms, and to have grabbed both of her wrists without reason and forced her into a chair.

"The defendant denies the charges, but there are chat records showing the victim confided in a friend about the incidents, her account is detailed, and the defendant changed his testimony — all of which is sufficient to establish that he groped the victim," the court said. "However, the sentence took into account that the groping was not severe."


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