3 medical students sentenced to prison for sexual abuse

Three former medical students from one of South Korea's most prestigious universities were sentenced to jail on Friday for sexually harassing an inebriated female schoolmate during a trip. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 23-year-old male student surnamed Park, one of the convicted, to two-and-a-half years imprisonment for groping the breasts, stomach and other body parts of a long-time female friend from the same medical school. The court also handed down a one-and-half-year prison sentence to the other two male defendants, surnamed Han and Baek, for joining Park in sexually harassing the victim and taking pictures of her being molested. The three students from the same undergraduate-level medical department of Korea University groped the female on two different occasions last May while all were on a group trip to Gapyeong, east of Seoul. At the time of the incident, the female student had been drinking heavily with her male schoolmates and was not capable of resisting the assault, Judge Bae Jun-hyun said while handing out what he called heavy punishments. The judge also ordered that the names, addresses and other personal information of the convicted be posted on the Internet for three years as part of their punishment. "Given the heavy mental shock and sense of betrayal the victim must have felt after realizing the assaults from her old schoolmates, stern penalties are inevitable," the judge said. "Through this case, her personal life was revealed (to the public) ... causing her post-traumatic stress disorder." Earlier in September, the three male students were expelled from Korea University over the sexual abuse allegations, which drew heavy media and public attention.