Court says sex with minors over the age of 13 is not a crime as long as consent is given

Article: Man in forties has sex with 15 year old junior high school student... "Because I love her".. makes him innocent?

Source: News 1 via Nate

Entertainment agency CEO Cho (45 years old) approached a 15 year old junior high school student A by promising her to a celebrity debut in exchange for sex. He raped her several times, eventually leading to A becoming pregnant and giving birth to his child.

The Korean Supreme Court, however, said he was innocent (Nov. 2014 and again in 2015) by accepting his claims of "The sex was consensual because I loved her, it was not rape". A, on the other hand, claimed that Cho would get angry with her if she didn't write him love letters. The court rejected her claim.

In another case, Kim (27 years old), had sex with Park (17 years old) and filmed the ordeal at a motel. The Supreme Court once again deemed him innocent (2015) because he received her consent and did not abuse her or film her with the intent of distribution.

In another case, singer Go Young Wook also argued in defense of his accusations of sexually harassing a minor that "the acts were consensual and that he developed feelings for the victims and did not abuse his power over them at all".

By law, if a minor over the age of 13 gives his or her consent, having sex with a minor is not a crime.

But... if a child is only 13 years old... is that an appropriate age for her to judge and give consent in such situations?

For context, the age of consent is 16~18 according to states in America and 16 for Canada, Swiss, and England. Having sex with a minor under the age is accountable to rape no matter whether consent was given or not.

Koreans are raising their voices in an attempt to have the minimum age raised from 13 -> 16. Others are arguing whether teens/minors are even mature enough to be able to have the decision to give consent or not regarding sexual matters.

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1. [+1,403, -51] Funny how this country is so strict with minors on matters regarding drinking, smoking, and watching 19+ rated material but they're so open when it comes to this.

2. [+1,201, -55] Even at the age as a college student, people don't always make the right judgments. Kids only look like they've matured on the outside but they're still young in their heads. Adults need to be teaching kids right from wrong but kids are too caught up in their studies that they don't know how to judge situations for themselves anymore. How could you expect someone 13~15 years old to make the right call... even if kids know everything nowadays, it's not an age where they should be responsible for all of the legal responsibilities that come with their decisions.

3. [+972, -69] Can't tell whether it's the law that's messed up or the judges for deciding they're innocent

4. [+56, -16] A man in his forties took a girl young enough to be his daughter, raped her, and impregnated her all under the guise of getting her a debut? Why in the world did the judges decide he was innocent? I wonder if these judges even consider what their decisions will have as an impact on society.

5. [+45, -6] If you commit murder: just say you were drunk. If you commit rape: just say you love her.

6. [+29, -4] So in Korea, teens can't play games past 10:30 pm but they can get pregnant and have kids.

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