Woman Bit Off the Tongue of Attempted Rapist and Was Deemed a Criminal Ever Since. Now, She Finally Has Justice By KC Baker

A South Korean woman who was convicted more than six decades ago for biting off part of an assailant’s tongue during a sexual assault has been acquitted after spending years challenging the ruling.

“​I, Choi Mal-ja, am finally innocent!” Choi Mal-ja, 79, declared on Wednesday, Sept. 10, after ​the Busan district court acquitted her in a retrial of her 1965 conviction for aggravated bodily injury, The New York Times reports.

The court overturned her conviction saying that her actions were “justified as self-defense,” according to The Times.

Choi was just 18 in 1964 when she was attacked by a 21-year-old man who tried to rape her in Busan, South Korea, according to The Guardian. 

During the attack, the man allegedly threw her to the ground and forced his tongue in her mouth, holding her nose to prevent her from breathing, according to court records, The Guardian reports.

She defended herself and was able to get away from him by biting off part of his tongue.

More than two weeks later, the attacker and some of his friends tracked her down at her home in Gimhae, threatening to stab her father, per The New York Times.

Prosecutors dropped attempted rape charges against the alleged attacker, who received a six-month sentence — which was suspended for two years — for trespassing and intimidation.

Choi, on the other hand, was convicted in 1965 of aggravated bodily injury and sentenced to 10 months in prison, with the court saying that biting the man’s tongue exceeded the “reasonable bounds” of self-defense, according to The New York Times.

Speaking from outside the court on Sept. 10, as supporters cheered her on, Choi said, “Sixty-one years ago, in a situation where I could understand nothing, the victim became the perpetrator and my fate was sealed as a criminal,” The Guardian reports. “For the victims who shared the same fate as mine, I wanted to be a source of hope for them.”

Inspired by the #MeToo movement, Choi had set out to have the conviction overturned.

In 2020 she petitioned for a retrial, the BBC reports. Her request was initially rejected, but three years later, the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead.

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On July 23, 2025, her retrial officially began with prosecutors apologizing to her and, in a rare move, asking the court to overturn the guilty verdict.

That day, a jubilant Choi told reporters outside of court, “For 61 years, the state made me live as a criminal.”

“If the prosecution is admitting its mistake even now, then I believe justice is alive in this country,” Choi added, according to the BBC.

Her lawyers said they plan to seek compensation from the state for the damages she suffered from the conviction.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.