Taeil, formerly of K-Pop group NCT, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison following a sexual assault conviction.
On Thursday (July 10), the Seoul Central District Court delivered the verdict for the 31-year-old singer, whose full name is Moon Tae-il, along with co-defendants Mr. Lee and Mr. Hong. All three were convicted of aggravated quasi-rape under South Korea’s Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, according to Soompi.
Following the sentencing, Taeil and the other defendants were immediately taken into custody, per the Korea Times. Prosecutors had previously requested a seven-year sentence for each man during a June 18 hearing.
The charges stem from a June 2023 incident in which the three men met a foreign woman at a bar in Seoul. After the woman became heavily intoxicated, she was taken to Mr. Lee’s home, where she was sexually assaulted while unconscious.
“The defendants admitted to the crime, and based on the evidence, they are found guilty,” the court said. “The victim was in a helpless state due to intoxication, and the assault occurred at Mr. Lee’s residence. The fact that the woman was a foreign tourist made the psychological trauma even more severe.” The court did, however, note the defendants were first-time offenders and that the victim did not wish to pursue punishment, which were considered mitigating factors.
Beyond prison time, the court ordered Taeil and his co-defendants to complete 40 hours of sexual violence education and barred them from working in institutions involving children or teens for five years.
Taeil’s legal team asked for leniency based on a written confession, but the court rejected that argument, saying the statement was submitted only after a search and seizure, not voluntarily.
Taeil, who debuted with NCT in 2016 and later joined various subunits, was dropped from the group in August 2024 after the allegations surfaced.
At the time, SM Entertainment stated: “We have recently confirmed that Taeil has been implicated in a criminal case related to sexual crimes. While looking into the situation, we recognized that the issue is very serious, and we have decided that Taeil could no longer continue team activities.” The label also said he would “faithfully cooperate with the police investigation” and apologized “for the controversy caused by our artist.”
