I was sexually assaulted in Korea and I'm leaving the country in ten days — can I still report it, and can the case go on without me here?

You can report this, you can leave, and the case does not end when you do. Korean law provides for exactly your situation: a victim's lawyer files the complaint and deals with the police on your behalf, your statement is taken with protections designed for sexual-offense victims, and a complainant abroad is not compelled to return for trial. The hospital form you have is more valuable than you may realize. What matters in the next ten days is not walking into a station; it is getting your statement recorded, through counsel, before you go.

What this is under Korean law

What you describe is rape (강간, ganggan) under Article 297 of the Criminal Act or, depending on the facts, quasi-rape (준강간, jun-ganggan) under Article 299 — each with a minimum of three years' imprisonment. Neither requires your complaint to proceed; since 2013, sexual offenses in Korea are prosecuted regardless of the victim's wishes. A report starts the case; a withdrawal does not end it. That cuts both ways: it means the case will not collapse because you are abroad, and it means you should decide to report knowing it becomes the state's case.

Reporting without the station

Under the Act on Special Cases Concerning Sexual Crimes (성폭력처벌법, seongpongnyeok cheobeol-beop), a victim of a sexual offense may be represented by a lawyer at every stage — the victim's counsel (피해자 변호사, pihaeja byeonhosa) — who files the complaint (고소, goso), attends your statement, handles all communication with the police, and is heard in the prosecutor's and the court's proceedings. Our firm files the complaint and manages the police contact; you do not go to a station alone or at all beyond what is legally required, which is a single statement.

That statement is taken under the Act's protections: a dedicated sexual-offense investigation unit, a female investigator on request, video-recording of the statement (which is what makes your later absence workable), an interpreter, a support person, and the presence of your counsel. It is given once, in a room designed for it, not in an open station. Ten days is enough to arrange it properly.

Leaving, and the trial

The video-recorded statement, taken with your counsel present, is admissible at trial under the Act's provisions for victims' recorded statements, subject to conditions the court applies; where the defendant contests it, the court may seek your testimony, and for a witness abroad that can be arranged by video link from a Korean consulate or under international judicial assistance. You are not "dragged back." Korean courts have conducted sexual-offense trials with the complainant abroad; the recorded statement and the objective evidence — the hospital record, the messages, the friends' accounts — carry the case.

The messages before and after are important; export them with dates and phone numbers visible. The hospital record is important; obtain a certified copy and the diagnosis certificate (진단서, jindanseo) before you leave. The friends who say "he's done this before" are important in a way you may not expect: prior complaints, if any exist, are something the investigating unit can check, and other victims sometimes come forward when one does.

What happens to him

The police investigate — your statement, the hospital record, the messages, his statement, his phone — and refer the case to the prosecutor. In a case with medical evidence and messages, a detention warrant is sought where there is risk of flight or of pressure on the victim. Indictment leads to trial and, on conviction, imprisonment and registration. He will be notified of the complaint; a protective measure barring him from contacting you can be sought at the outset, and any contact from him after that is a separate offense and evidence.

Your situation as a foreign national

Nothing about your visa status affects your standing as a victim. Your departure in ten days is not a bar; it is a scheduling constraint on the one statement. A power of attorney (위임장, wiimjang) signed before you leave lets counsel act throughout without notarization from Australia. If a civil claim for damages is pursued later, that too proceeds through counsel. Korea's crime-victim compensation and support programs are available to foreign victims in defined circumstances; counsel can advise.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not contact him, and do not reply if he contacts you; preserve anything he sends. Do not post about it or name him; both create problems for the case. Do this week: get the certified hospital record and certificate; export the messages; write down, for your lawyer only, the timeline; and let counsel schedule the recorded statement with the sexual-offense unit before your flight. Sign the power of attorney in person.

From a former police investigator's perspective

Sexual-offense units in Korea are built for exactly this — a victim who is frightened of the process, has medical evidence, and is about to leave. The one thing they cannot use is a report that never arrives. A statement taken once, on video, with counsel and a female investigator, in the week before departure, gives the unit a case they can run for a year without you in the country. Investigators who have run those cases will tell you the hospital visit the next day was the most important decision you made; the second most important is this one.

We handle victim representation in sexual-offense cases and can arrange the statement within your ten days — text consultation or +82-2-522-3959, in English.

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