Doxxed perpetrator in Miryang rape case reveals face, publicly apologizes

Social Affairs

Published: 16 Jul. 2024, 17:06 Updated: 16 Jul. 2024, 18:12

Doxxed perpetrator in Miryang rape case reveals face, publicly apologizes

A man surnamed Lee appears in an apology video posted on YouTube channel named ″Miryang The Glory″ on Sunday. His identity was doxxed last month for his involvement in the 2004 Miryang gang rape case. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

One of the perpetrators of the 2004 Miryang gang rape case, whose identity was recently doxxed, publicly apologized and revealed his face in a YouTube video posted on Sunday.

This marks the first public apology in which one of the assailants disclosed his face, as there have only been written or voiced apologies in the past two decades since the incident.

A man surnamed Lee, who claimed to be one of the perpetrators, uploaded his apology to a YouTube channel called Miryang The Glory. The video starts with Lee saying he is “recording a video to apologize to a victim about an incident that happened 20 years ago.”

The Miryang gang rape case involved at least 44 high school students who repeatedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old middle school girl over the course of a year in Miryang, South Gyeongsang, in 2004. The offenders filmed the assaults and distributed them on the internet.

Lee's public apology came over a month after a YouTube channel named Narak Bogwanso, or Narak Archives, exposed the identities of alleged offenders in early June, bringing public attention to the incident again.

“Through this video, I would like to say that I am very sorry and sorry again to the victim who has lived in an unfathomable pain that I cannot even dare to imagine,” Lee said in the video. “I was afraid and terrified to record the video.”

Lee also added that he wanted to “hide and escape from” the public attention coming from his involvement in the rapes as time passed.

“Although I know it is hard to be forgiven with any sort of apology, I deliver it sincerely,” Lee said. “I also feel extremely guilty for apologizing after 20 years have passed.”

"I shall live the rest of my life never forgetting and apologizing again and again,” Lee said and concluded the video.

The video had garnered over 175,600 views and 2,000 comments as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Most comments said Lee’s belated apology was self-interested and doubted his sincerity.

The YouTube channel's handle appears to be named after the Netflix Series "The Glory" (2022-2023), a school bullying revenge saga.

The case sparked controversy and outrage as none of the 44 teenage rapists received criminal prosecutions because they were juveniles at the time.

The number of perpetrators may have been much higher than the 44 named in the case, and the 14-year-old victim's sister and cousin were also assaulted.

At the time, 10 of the assailants who directly took part in the sexual assault were indicted and sentenced to probation, and 20 were sent to juvenile detention centers, a penalty that does not leave any criminal record. The remaining 14 offenders either settled with the victim or were released because their names were not included in a complaint.

The Miryang gang rape case also became notorious due to accusations that police mistreated the victims and failed to investigate thoroughly.

A remark from a police officer who said that the victim ruined the reputation of the county also incited public anger.

In 2008, the Seoul High Court and the Supreme Court found the police negligent for mistreating the victims during the investigation and ordered the country to compensate them.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, HA SU-YOUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]