The topic of the seriously flawed Korean legal system in regards to sex crimes is something that comes up repeatedly, especially in a case like last week where family members who raped their handicapped teenage relative for years were given no jail time and even given back custody of the kid they had been raping.  Well this rape case involving a USFK servicemember in Dongducheon just goes to show yet another example of the absurdity of Korean sexual assault laws:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier tried to convince a South Korean judge Wednesday that he did not steal a woman’s cell phone before raping her in a Dongducheon alley last summer, according to testimony in Seoul Central District Court.

The robbery accusation, if proven, could mean considerably more punishment for Sgt. Jonathan Kim, who admitted last month to the rape of the 22-year-old South Korean woman.

With the rape charge, Kim, a Korean-American and a U.S. soldier, faces a maximum of three years in South Korean prison, according to his lawyer, Kim Jong-pyo. A conviction of rape and robbery could bring as much as 10 years in prison, his lawyer said after the morning’s proceedings.

During the trial hearing, the woman testified that Kim took the phone before beating her and raping her in the alley. She said Kim was trying to prevent her from calling the police for help.

“He put his hand over my mouth and dragged me to the alley,” the woman said, through the court’s interpreter.

Later, Kim admitted he was drunk and that he attacked the woman, a stranger, in the middle of the night.

The woman said she gave the phone to Kim as he demanded just before the attack. When she went back with police later that night to look for it, it was gone. She also said she never checked with the cell phone company to see whether Kim had used the phone.

Kim testified that he took the phone and threw it over his shoulder.

He did not hear it hit anything and he never looked for it, Kim told Judge Lee Gwang-man.  [Stars & Stripes]

It is incredible they are arguing more over if he stole her cell phone or not instead of the fact he raped her because he can only get three years for rape and up to 10 years if he stole the cell phone.