A South Korean court sentenced a US soldier to 10 years in prison yesterday for raping a teenaged girl — the second-harshest punishment handed down to a convicted US soldier in South Korea in nearly 20 years.
Uijeongbu District Court convicted 21-year-old Private First Class Kevin Flippin of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old girl numerous times after breaking into her small boarding room near Seoul in September, court spokesman Lee Sang-yup said.
PERVERTED
The soldier committed many “sadistic and sexually perverted acts,” while threatening the girl with a pair of scissors, a knife and a lighter, Lee said.
The soldier robbed the girl of 5,000 won (US$4.50) as well, he said.
The court verdict said the girl felt “terrified and sexually humiliated,” Lee said.
The case, along with a separate rape allegation by a teenage girl against another US soldier, prompted top US military and government officials to offer public apologies.
“Our sincere apologies go out again to the victim, her family and the Korean community,” the 2nd Infantry Division said in a statement later in the day.
RALLY
About a dozen South Korean activists rallied near the US embassy in Seoul, chanting slogans and holding placards, including one that said: “We need Obama’s apology!”
The court ordered the soldier to undergo 80 hours of counseling and his personal information to be made public on a South Korean government Web site for 10 years, Lee said.
Prosecutors had demanded a 15-year prison term.
REPENTED
The court, however, decided on only a 10-year sentence because the soldier had repented, was still young and the rape was his first crime, Lee said.
Both prosecutors and the soldier have one week to appeal, he said.
About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea and crimes involving them have fired anti-US sentiments among many South Koreans.
PROTESTS
In 2002, the acquittals of two US soldiers whose armored vehicle ran over and killed two South Korean schoolgirls during training prompted massive nationwide protests against the US military presence in the country.
Yesterday’s sentencing is the longest prison term for a US soldier stationed in South Korea since 1993, when a US soldier was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a South Korean bar employee, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
His life sentence was later reduced to 15 years and the soldier was eventually released in 2006.
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