Ex-NCT member Taeil sentenced to 3 years, 6 months for sexual assault

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Ex-NCT member Taeil sentenced to 3 years, 6 months for sexual assault

Published: 27 Dec. 2025, 11:11 Updated: 28 Dec. 2025, 17:38

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Taeil in 2023 [NEWS1]

Taeil, a former member of K-pop boy band NCT, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison on charges of sexual assault.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling by rejecting an appeal filed by the former singer and his two friends, surnamed Lee and Hong, who had been indicted on charges of special quasi-rape under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

Special quasi-rape refers to the act of sexual assault committed by at least two individuals or by one carrying a weapon, against a person who is unable to resist.

The three men were also ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment and are barred from working at institutions related to children, adolescents or people with disabilities for the next five years.

Taeil and his associates were accused of sexually assaulting a foreign woman who was intoxicated in June last year. Taeil was first investigated by police in June and underwent his initial questioning in August.

Taeil debuted with NCT in 2016 and was active in subunits NCT U and NCT 127. SM Entertainment terminated his exclusive contract in October 2024 following the allegations, stating that “given the seriousness of the matter, continuing group activities is no longer possible.”

In July, a district court sentenced Taeil, Lee and Hong to three years and six months in prison, citing the severity of the crime. The court said the perpetrators took advantage of the victim’s intoxicated and defenseless state to commit sequential acts of sexual assault.

The defendants were immediately taken into custody.

The court noted that the victim, a foreign tourist in an unfamiliar location, likely suffered significant psychological trauma.

In October, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision, dismissing the defendants’ appeal. Taeil and the acquaintances subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal on procedural grounds, affirming the prison sentence.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]