The 2nd Infantry Division NCO implicated in three rape cases but only charged in one has been convicted and the sentence is about what you would expect for rape in Korea:

Hongdae in Seoul, the location of one of the alleged rapes.

A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced to three years in South Korean prison Friday for beating and raping a woman last summer in a Dongducheon alley.

But Seoul Central District Court Judge Lee Gwang-man ruled that Sgt. Jonathan Kim did not rob the woman during the attack, and he dropped that charge. The robbery charge could have added up to seven more years on the sentence.

The 71 days that Kim has been confined will be credited toward the sentence, according to Lee.

Kim made no statement in court Friday.

After the trial, his father, Kim Young-jin, said, “I kind of expected this sentence.”

He said he’s going to urge his son to appeal the sentence. Court officials said that Kim has one week to file an appeal.

The soldier’s father said he hopes the family will be able to make a financial settlement with the woman, 22, who has refused to accept any payment. In previous court proceedings, Kim apologized for the attack.

Kim, who joined the Army in 2004, deposited 5 million won — about $3,800 — with the court for the woman in case she changes her mind, according to the judge.

In South Korea, defendants in criminal cases often reach financial settlements with their alleged victims in exchange for a lighter prison sentence, though the settlements are not considered an admission of guilt.

Kim also has made financial settlements with two women he allegedly assaulted in August in Seoul, his father has told Stripes.

The women, both 21, withdrew their complaints against Kim, meaning he won’t be tried in those cases.  [Stars & Stripes]

I have said this before, but isn’t it amazing that stealing a cell phone would give him more jail time then committing a rape?

As light as his three year sentence is, it is no where near as bad as the one given to a taxi cab driver who raped a newly arriving female USFK servicemember who hired his cab to take her from the Incheon Airport to Yongsan.  The taxi cab driver received no jail time for the rape because the victim didn’t resist enough:

The Seoul High Court yesterday overturned the conviction by a lower court of a 49-year old taxi driver who had been charged with the rape of a 19-year old U.S. female soldier.
The man had received a 10-month prison term in the original trial after being convicted of luring the newly-arrived servicewoman from Incheon International Airport to a hotel near there where the woman said he raped her.

The woman reported the incident to U.S. military authorities, who asked for assistance from Korean prosecutors. The appeals court ruled that the woman had shown no evidence of having refused the man’s advances, and that he used “not enough violence to constitute rape.”

An even better example is this sentence given to family members who raped a mentally handicapped girl over a number years and received no jail time and kept custody of the girl!

Is there another modern country out there that takes rape as lightly as Korea does?