Court determines that the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault begins at the point when the Supreme Court overturns and remands the conviction.

(Gimcheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwan-sik Yoon = The statute of limitations for claiming damages in criminal cases that take a long time to reach a conviction must start from the time of the court's conviction, a court ruling has been issued.

According to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation on the 16th, Chief Judge Kim Joo-ok of Civil Division 905 of the Seoul Central District Court ruled that the defendant must compensate the plaintiff 200 million won in a lawsuit claiming damages filed by Mr. A against his maternal uncle, Mr. B.

Mr. A's parents divorced when he was young and he lived with his father, but after his father's death, he lived alone.

Accordingly, when Mr. A turned 19 in 1999, maternal uncle B allowed Mr. A to live and work at the video store he ran.

Afterwards, when he found out that Ms. A was meeting her boyfriend, he dragged her to a motel and sexually assaulted her. Afterwards, he made Mr. A absolutely obey him, including making him do housework and controlling his outings.

Mr. A was in a state of inability to resist or refuse instructions or requests from his maternal uncle due to economic subjugation and psychological fear that had continued since 1999.

Mr. B used this to sexually assault her five times from around May 2015 to February 2018.

Mr. A was unable to report the damage to anyone, but sued Mr. B in 2018 at the urging of his friends.

Mr. B was acquitted in both the first trial and the appellate trial, but in May of last year, the Supreme Court overturned the case on the grounds of guilt and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

When his uncle was sentenced to prison, Mr. A filed a lawsuit for damages against his uncle in September last year with the help of the Korea Legal Aid Corporation.

Mr. B argued that since the last crime occurred around February 2018, his right to claim compensation has already expired due to the statute of limitations.

In response, the Legal Aid Corporation countered that the point when Mr. A realistically and concretely recognized that Mr. B's actions constituted an illegal act should be considered the time when the Supreme Court decision was pronounced.

In addition, the defendant took advantage of the plaintiff's situation to repeatedly commit sexual violence, which caused Mr. A to suffer severe mental pain, and the claim for damages was made considering the fact that the defendant did not apologize and repaired the damage after the criminal verdict was confirmed as guilty.

Chief Judge Kim ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff the full amount of damages claimed by the corporation and the delay damages.

Lee Bo-young, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Corporation, said, "Considering the situation in which it was difficult for the victim to clearly recognize the illegality of the act, it is meaningful in that the Supreme Court judged the point in time when the conviction was overturned and remanded as the starting point for the statute of limitations for the right to claim compensation."