Former NCT member Taeil avoids detention, indicted for sexual assault with accomplices

By KTimes

Taeil, 30, (real name Moon Tae-il), a former member of the idol group NCT, has been indicted without detention on charges of sexually assaulting a woman with acquaintances. It was belatedly revealed that a prior request for his arrest warrant had been denied.

According to legal sources on Monday, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office’s Women and Children’s Crime Investigation Division 1 indicted Moon and two accomplices on Feb. 28 on charges under the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. They are accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman last June.

The Seoul Bangbae Police Station, which received the victim’s report last June, applied for arrest warrants for the three suspects. However, the court rejected the request, citing that they had admitted to the crime, reducing the need for detention. As a result, police summoned Taeil for questioning in August, two months after receiving the report, and forwarded the case to the prosecution in September.

The suspects insisted that the crime was not premeditated. Unlike his accomplices, who appeared before prosecutors for questioning, Taeil did not respond to the summons, citing health issues. His legal team reportedly submitted medical documents and a statement from his attorney.

Taeil debuted in 2016 as a member of NCT U, a subunit of NCT, and later became part of NCT 127. After the allegations surfaced, he was expelled from his agency, SM Entertainment, in October last year.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.