Coach gets prison sentence for sexual exploitation of underage athlete

A local court on Wednesday handed down a verdict: a national skipping team coach was sentenced to five years in prison for his years of sexual exploitation of a teenage athlete.

The Uijeongbu District Court found the 28-year-old suspect guilty of violating the Law on the Protection of Children and Young People from Sexual Offences, specifically Article 7, which prohibits sex with a minor through a deceptive scheme. He was also banned from working in institutions for minors or people with disabilities for three years and ordered to attend a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program.

The court rejected the defendant’s claim that both parties had consented to the sexual relationship. The court found that the defendant had abused his position as a coach to force the victim into long-term exploitation.

Police began investigating the case in September 2021 and discovered that the suspect committed the crimes between 2020 and 2021. The victim was 16 years old at the time. It is believed that the victim was raped and manipulated multiple times by the suspect, who alternated between using compliments and insulting language to keep the victim under control.

The investigation found that the coach told the victim to maintain the exploitative relationship even if one of the two became romantically involved with someone else, and threatened to tell her future husband what had happened between them.