Court finds university not liable for death of student who fell to death during sexual assault
Published: 21 Sep. 2025, 12:53
Updated: 21 Sep. 2025, 20:11
![Inha University student Kim enters the Incheon District Court on July 17, 2022. Kim was found guilty of leading to the death of a female university student who fell after being sexually assaulted by him. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/09/21/c090a086-458a-4ce4-a114-55bf377fbd47.jpg)
Inha University student Kim enters the Incheon District Court on July 17, 2022. Kim was found guilty of leading to the death of a female university student who fell after being sexually assaulted by him. [YONHAP]
A court ruled that a university in Incheon was not responsible for the death of a female university student who died after falling from a campus building during a sexual assault, in a recent ruling dismissing a compensation claim filed by the family of the late student against the school.
According to legal sources on Sunday, the Incheon District Court’s Civil Division 16 ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the victim’s family seeking damages of around 45 million won ($32,000) from the university.
The victim died in July 2022 after falling from a building on the university’s campus. She had been sexually assaulted by a 23-year-old male student surnamed Kim and fell from a height of 8 meters (26 feet) during the incident. Investigators found that Kim fled the scene without reporting the fall to either police or emergency services.
Kim was later indicted on charges of rape and murder under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. In October 2023, the Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that sentenced him to 20 years in prison on charges of rape resulting in death.
Following the ruling, the victim’s family filed a civil suit in February last year against both Kim and the university, initially seeking around 800 million won in damages. They later adjusted their claim to seek 45 million won from the university. The claim against Kim was settled through court-recommended mediation.
During the trial against the university, the family argued that the university president was required to establish and enforce safety management plans to protect students from various risks on campus. They claimed the school failed to provide any form of safety management during the crime.
They also stated the victim remained unattended on the ground for about two hours in the early morning hours before being found by a passerby. Although she was still breathing when discovered and transported to an emergency room, she later died — a delay for which they held the university partly responsible.
However, the court ruled that it was difficult to recognize any legal obligation that the university president had failed to fulfill regarding safety planning.
"Although there was no [closed-circuit] television camera installed [in the building where the crime occurred], the decision had been made based on the judgment of a contracted private security firm, and therefore the university cannot be held liable for inadequate installation or maintenance of campus facilities," said the court.
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 HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)