Theater director sentenced to 6 years in prison for sexual assaults
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court sentenced a famed theatrical director to six years in prison on Wednesday on multiple sexual assault charges.
The Seoul Central District Court handed down the guilty verdict for Lee Youn-taek, 66, in a case that sparked a Me Too movement in the art and entertainment sectors in South Korea.
The court ordered him to take 80 hours of therapy sessions and banned him from working at any entity related to children and adolescents for the next 10 years.
He was indicted in April on multiple charges of sexual crimes against female junior members of his famous drama troupe since 2010. He was arrested in late March.
Lee was a leading figure in South Korea's theater circles and became one of several high-profile South Korean men accused of sexual misconduct. He was alleged to have sexually assaulted 17 women on 62 occasions from 1999 to last year.
Lee pleaded not guilty.
Lee's victims have alleged he raped many women over the years. But rape charges could not be filed under the current law, which took effect in 2013, and allowed investigations of sex offenses without the alleged victim filing an official complaint. Many of the alleged incidents involving Lee took place before the current law went into force.
This picture taken on Sept. 19, 2018 shows theatrical director Lee Youn-taek walking into a courthouse in Seoul for his sentencing trial on sexual misconduct charges. (Yonhap)
elly@yna.co.kr
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