Our son has been detained in Korea on a sexual assault charge he denies — we're in the UK. What are we facing, and how do we help him from here?

He is facing one of the most serious charges in Korean law, he is detained because a judge found the charge serious and him a flight risk, and the road ahead is months long. That is the honest part. The other honest part: consent cases in Korea are decided on evidence — messages, footage, the consistency of the complainant's account, the medical record — and a detained defendant with retained counsel who gets that evidence in front of the prosecutor early has real prospects, including of release before trial. You can appoint counsel for him from the UK today, without his signature, and you should, because the court-appointed lawyer he has seen once is not going to do what the next thirty days require.

What this is under Korean law

Rape (강간, ganggan) under Article 297 of the Criminal Act — sexual intercourse by violence or intimidation — carries a minimum of three years' imprisonment. Where the allegation is that the complainant was unable to resist because of intoxication, the charge is quasi-rape (준강간, jun-ganggan) under Article 299, with the same range. There is no fine option; a conviction means prison unless the court suspends the sentence, which it can do for sentences of up to three years. A conviction also brings registration of personal information (신상정보 등록, sinsang jeongbo deungnok) and, after any sentence, removal from Korea.

Consent is decided on the whole evidence. Korean courts examine the complainant's account for consistency and detail, the objective record — CCTV of the two of them before and after, messages exchanged the same night and the next day, the timing of the complaint, any medical findings — and the defendant's account for consistency with his first statement. Cases in which the objective record contradicts the complaint are not indicted, or are acquitted; cases in which it is silent turn on the credibility findings, where Korean courts have in recent years given considerable weight to a consistent complainant.

Timeline

The detention warrant (구속영장, gusok yeongjang) allows police custody for up to ten days and prosecutorial custody for a further ten, extendable once — up to thirty days before the prosecutor must indict or release. If indicted, detention may continue for up to six months at first instance, extendable in stages; a contested rape trial typically takes several months, with a judgment at the end. Appeals add more.

Bail (보석, boseok) becomes available after indictment. It is granted sparingly in sex-offense cases, but it is granted — where the defendant has a fixed address, an employer or family guarantor, no record, and where the evidence gathered since arrest weakens the flight-risk finding. A surrendered passport and a family member present in Korea help. Before indictment, counsel can apply to the court to review the detention (구속적부심, gusok jeokbusim); it succeeds rarely, but it is the vehicle for putting new evidence before a judge quickly.

Appointing counsel, visiting, sending things

Under Article 30 of the Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법), a suspect's lineal relatives may appoint defense counsel independently. You can retain a lawyer from England today. Retained counsel visits him at the detention center (접견, jeopgyeon) without the limits that apply to family, takes his full account through a qualified interpreter, reviews what the police have, and represents him at every interview. The court-appointed lawyer is replaced or supplemented.

Family visits are permitted on a schedule with limits on frequency and duration; a parent in Korea can visit, deposit money for purchases, and send letters, which are read. Books and clothing are accepted under detention-center rules. Counsel arranges all of it. The consulate can continue welfare visits; it does not provide legal representation.

His school's suspension is an employment matter; his E-2 status is not ended by detention, and the Immigration Office's decisions come later and depend on the outcome. MEGA X handles the criminal case; where status becomes relevant, we coordinate with an immigration specialist.

What to do now, and what not to do

Retain counsel. Then, with his consent, give counsel access to his phone's cloud backup — the messages from that night and the next day are the case — his social media, and the names of anyone who saw them together. Do not contact the complainant or anyone connected to her; in Korean practice that is read as pressure and it is a reason to keep him detained. Do not post about the case. Book one parent's travel for after counsel's first visit, when you will know what the evidence looks like and when a visit does the most good.

From a former police investigator's perspective

Sex-offense investigators in Korea are trained to assess the complainant's consistency, and they know that a same-night encounter with a next-day complaint can go either way on the objective record. What they cannot do is find the exculpatory messages themselves — a detained suspect's phone is examined for the prosecution's purposes. Retained counsel who produces the next-day exchange, the CCTV request and a consistent account within the first two weeks changes the file the prosecutor reads at day thirty. The court-appointed lawyer, seeing him once, will not.

We have represented foreign nationals in detention on charges like this, with families instructing from abroad. Call +82-2-522-3959 or use the text consultation form; the thirty-day clock is already running.

— Hyeonghwan Chon, Managing Partner, MEGA X Law Firm Korea