By Kim Rahn
The family of a female student sexually assaulted by three male Korea University medical school students has called for the school to expel the students with no chance of returning.
The call comes amid speculation that the school may not punish them with the harshest disciplinary measures, which will allow the three to eventually re-enter the school.
A sister of the victim said in a radio interview Wednesday that the university should remove the offenders from the school and never let them come back.
“At Korea University, those expelled can re-enter in a year. If they do so, it means my sister will have to leave the school to avoid them,” she said.
The three offenders stripped the female student, touched her body and took photos of the scene while she was asleep after drinking at an inn during a field trip to a Gyeonggi provincial town in May.
The sister said the victim has been in an unstable mental state and is unable to be interviewed.
She said the attitude of the offenders’ parents made the family pursue stern disciplinary action.
“Those parents claimed their sons did nothing wrong. They came to my house and threatened that if the crime was made public, not only their sons’ lives but also my sister’s life would be ruined.”
According to the victim’s sister, the offenders didn’t apologize to the victim when she told them two days after the incident that she was drunk but remembered what they did.
“They just said they thought she would not remember. They sent her apologetic text messages only after the police investigation began, but the apologies were not sincere,” she said.
She said the victim was deeply disappointed in the offenders who had been her schoolmates for six years. “I hope the incident will alert the school to the issue of women’s rights.”
Korea University officials said Tuesday that the disciplinary committee had decided on but didn’t disclose the punishment, saying there remains a final step in the students’ pleas.
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