Police seek arrest warrant for ex-SME executive accused of repeatedly raping employee with intellectual disability, who later gave birth

Police have applied for an arrest warrant against a former executive in his 60s at a small and medium-sized enterprise on charges of repeatedly raping an employee in her 20s with an intellectual disability.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's women and juvenile crime investigation unit applied for a pre-arrest warrant against the suspect, identified only as A, on charges of quasi-rape of a person with a disability under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, according to Yonhap on Tuesday.

A pre-arrest warrant is sought against a suspect who has not yet been taken into custody through an emergency arrest or a standard arrest warrant.

A is accused of raping the victim — a woman in her 20s with an intellectual disability identified as B — on multiple occasions from the second half of last year through June this year.

B's parents reported the case to police after learning of the abuse when their unmarried daughter became pregnant. B gave birth after the report was filed and is currently raising the child.

Police received the initial report in March and, following an investigation, determined that A needed to be detained for further questioning before applying for the warrant.

A and B previously worked at the same workplace and both have since left their positions.

Disability rights groups, appearing at a press conference last month alongside B's father, said the case exposed serious gaps in the system designed to protect people with disabilities. "The mere fact that allegations have been raised that an executive at a workplace employing people with disabilities — a position of clear authority — engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a worker with a disability shows there were serious loopholes in the protection framework," they said.

A's pre-warrant hearing is scheduled at the Incheon District Court on Wednesday.