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Prosecutors seek longer sentence for ex-NCT member Taeil

Published: 17 Sep. 2025, 18:32

Taeil of boy band NCT [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

Moon Tae-il, a former member of the K-pop group NCT, pleaded for leniency in an appellate trial after being sentenced to prison in the first trial on charges of sexual assault. Prosecutors requested a seven-year prison sentence.

The Seoul High Court held a final hearing on Wednesday for Moon, indicted on charges of aggravated rape under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, along with two accomplices surnamed Lee and Hong.

"The crime is serious and the circumstances are egregious," said the prosecution. "Even if the victim has settled, the first trial’s ruling was excessively lenient when considering the case as a whole."

The prosecution requested that each of the defendants be sentenced to seven years in prison. The three were sentenced to three years and six months in July.

"I know that no words or actions can fully heal the pain the victim has suffered. I would like to once again sincerely apologize to the victim," Moon said, clad in an orange-brown prison uniform at the court.

Moon’s attorney pleaded for leniency, citing the victim’s statement to investigators that she did not wish for punishment to proceed.

Moon was booked by police in June last year on charges of sexually assaulting a foreign woman who was intoxicated and incapacitated, along with his friends Lee and Hong. His agency at the time, SM Entertainment, announced his departure from the group, stating that “the matter is extremely serious and it is no longer possible for him to continue group activities.”

In July, the first trial court sentenced Moon to three years and six months in prison and ordered him taken into custody immediately, ruling that he and the accomplices had raped the victim sequentially while she was incapable of resistance due to intoxication. Lee and Hong also received three years and six months each and were remanded into custody in court.

The appellate ruling is scheduled for Oct. 17.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]