[News Today] ONLINE GROOMING SUSPECT APPEALS

[LEAD]
A man in his 30s was convicted of a sex crime after making a 10-year-old girl sign a marriage pledge and requesting inappropriate photos in a virtual internet world, the 'Metaverse'. KBS has obtained the appeal document submitted by the man to the Supreme Court. He argued that a 10-year-old girl cannot possibly feel sexual shame, and thus his sex crime charges should not stand. Experts point out that such related laws can't be interpreted in a narrow way.

[REPORT]
A man in his 30s approached a 10-year-old girl on Naver's metaverse service Zepeto. He made her sign a marriage contract and demanded inappropriate photos from her.

A court's first trial only found him guilty of child abuse. But an appellate court also found him guilty of having sexually exploitive conversations and sentenced him to two years in jail, suspended for three years.

The court said although the man did not mention sexual intercourse directly, sexual shame should be judged from the standpoint of an average 10-year-old girl.

The ruling recognizes the act of seducing minors to have sexually explicit conversations, also known as 'online grooming', as a sex crime.

The man claimed that the second verdict misinterpreted the law and appealed to the Supreme Court.

KBS has obtained his notice of appeal.

It states that the victim had little sexual awareness and was unable to interpret the phrase as being sexual.

In other words, it says if the victim is as naive as any 10-year-old would be, she could not have felt sexually ashamed.

The girl's family was outraged by the defendant's decision to appeal, because at first he asserted he was feeling remorse for his acts.

Victim's father / (VOICE MODIFIED)
Our lives have been ruined. We are living in constant fear that something else may happen to my daughter.

Experts say sexually exploitative conversations must be viewed from a broader perspective.

Yoon Jeong-sook / Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice
Perpetrators may think they can get away from punishment by avoiding certain wording. The word ‘sexual’ has a very broad meaning here.

The girl's family has recently submitted a petition to the Supreme Court.