The victim of the so-called “Busan Kick” case, in which a man chased a woman in her 20s who was returning home from Seomyeon, Busan, to an office elevator and assaulted her to the point of unconsciousness, went on air to express his fears. “I heard that the perpetrator kept repeating my address and social security number in the detention center,” he said, adding that he was worried about the perpetrator’s retaliation.
Appearing on CBS Radio’s “Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show” on June 6, the victim said she was “really choked up” when she heard that the perpetrator told a colleague in the detention center that he would retaliate by visiting the victim when he was released.
“I called my cellmate to check on him,” she said, “and he said, ‘I heard the name of this apartment, do you live there?’ He said that the perpetrator had been memorizing my address and social security number inside the prison. It was creepy when he told me he was going to beat me to death if I escaped,” she recalls.
“I have goosebumps because I live close to Busan Detention Center, where the perpetrator is now,” he said, adding, “I don’t know how PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) will come later.” As for how the perpetrator knew his personal information, Mr. A said that he may have gotten it during a civil lawsuit.
He said, “I’m going to retaliate enough that (the perpetrator) knows my address. He’s saying, ‘I’m going to escape, I’m going to go out on a boat and beat him to death,'” he said, adding, “If you let this person go, I’m going to have to accept the reality of what’s coming, but I’m too anxious, so please just let me live.”
The perpetrator, Mr. Lee, as seen on a YouTube channel. Screen capture from a YouTube broadcast
Mr. Lee also said he was happy when the sexual assault was revealed. “When the indictment was changed from attempted murder to attempted rape and murder,안전놀이터 I jumped up and down as if I had been accepted to a university,” he said. “I was happy that the fact of sexual assault that I had to hide was revealed. I was sad that sexual assault victims had been scrambling to prove their victimization for the past year or so,” he said.
“Luckily, the paralysis on my right side is gone and I’m continuing to rehabilitate,” he said, “but psychologically, I’m still anxious. If I don’t take my medication, I wake up in two hours. I have lost about 10 kilograms in weight, so I don’t have the energy yet.”
The Busan High Prosecutors’ Office sought 35 years in prison for the defendant, A, in a determination hearing conducted by the Busan High Court Criminal Settlement Division 2-1 (Deputy Chief Justice Choi Hwan) on March 31. The prosecution also sought a 20-year probation order with a location tracking device.
The prosecution, which had previously requested 20 years in prison in the first trial, increased the sentence because it changed the charges. The prosecution applied the charge of attempted murder in the first trial, but the Busan Prosecutors’ Office applied to change it to a preliminary charge and the charge of attempted rape and murder to a peripheral charge, and the trial court accepted it.
In response to the recent controversy over a YouTuber’s disclosure of the perpetrator’s identity, Ahn said, “I didn’t (report it) at all,” adding, “In fact, I’m still waiting for the legal process. I’ve been putting in petitions, but they’ve been rejected,” he said. “I’ve been putting in petitions, but they’ve been rejected,” he said.
Finally, when asked what he would like to do after the trial is over, he said, “I haven’t been able to go anywhere by myself since the incident. I would like to (try) to realize that I can travel again, and actually, I just want to live a normal life again, but I don’t know if that’s possible.”