Court again rules against accuser in Ki Sung-yueng sexual assault case

A Seoul appeals court has again ruled that a man who accused former South Korean national team footballer Ki Sung-yueng of sexual assault during elementary school must pay damages to Ki.

The Seoul High Court's Civil Division 13-3, presided over by Judges Hwang Jin-gu, Baek Gang-jin and Lee Gyu-hong, ruled Friday in favor of Ki in his damages lawsuit against accuser A, a former elementary school classmate.

Ki had filed the lawsuit seeking 500 million won ($377,000) in damages against A and another accuser, B. A lower court had previously ordered A and B to jointly pay 100 million won in damages. B did not appeal, making that liability final, while A appealed and lost again in Friday's ruling.

The court said that under applicable legal principles, the party claiming that an act occurred must present credible supporting evidence. "The first-instance court found it difficult to conclude that the defendant had sufficiently substantiated the claim, and the appeals court found the lower court's judgment to be sound," the ruling stated.

The case began in 2021 when A and B alleged they had been sexually assaulted by Ki while playing for an elementary school football club in South Jeolla Province. The two claimed they were victimized by Ki and other older players between January and June 2000. Their lawyer at the time said the accusers recounted the alleged abuse in vivid detail, including physical descriptions and accounts of oral sex, describing the experience as deeply traumatic.

Ki denied the allegations from the outset, filing a criminal complaint against A and B for defamation and launching the civil damages suit.

The Seoul Seocho Police Station, which investigated the case, determined in 2023 that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the sexual assault allegations against Ki. It also closed Ki's defamation complaint against A and B without charges, citing a lack of evidence.