The first court date for musical actor Nam Kyung-ju, who was indicted without detention on charges of sexually assaulting a female student he mentored, has been postponed.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Agreement Division 29 will hold the first preparatory hearing at 11 a.m. on the 15th in the case against Nam Kyung-ju on charges of engaging in sexual intercourse with a person under his supervision.
The case was initially assigned to the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 13 (single-judge) with the first hearing set for today. However, on the 3rd, the court decided to transfer it to a three-judge panel, and the case was reallocated to a collegiate division. As a result, the schedule changed.
This transfer procedure allows a single-judge case to move to a panel of judges after considering the case’s nature, significance, legal issues, and social impact. Cases with complex facts or major public implications may be reassigned.
Nam Kyung-ju is accused of raping a female student he was instructing in Seocho-gu, Seoul, in December last year. The woman reportedly left the scene immediately and called 112, after which a police investigation began.
Nam Kyung-ju has reportedly strongly denied the allegations during police questioning. Nevertheless, police concluded the charges were substantiated and referred the case to prosecutors with a recommendation to indict.
Nam Kyung-ju’s side requested criminal mediation from the prosecution, but the woman said she had no intention to settle, and the mediation did not go forward. Criminal mediation is a process in which a criminal mediation committee facilitates a settlement between an alleged offender and a victim.
Born in 1963, Nam Kyung-ju debuted in 1982 and has appeared in numerous productions.
Since 2020, he had served as an associate professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Hongik University, instructing students, but he was suspended from his position after the incident.