A South Korean court on 10 July sentenced former NCT singer Moon Tae-il to three years and six months in prison for the aggravated quasi-rape of an intoxicated Chinese tourist. The Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 26 immediately remanded the 31-year-old into custody and ordered him to complete 40 hours of sexual-violence counselling as well as a five-year employment ban at institutions involving children or adolescents. The judges handed identical sentences to Taeil’s two accomplices, identified by the surnames Lee and Hong. Prosecutors had pressed for seven-year prison terms at the first hearing on 18 June, but the panel cited the defendants’ guilty pleas, lack of prior convictions and a settlement with the victim in opting for a shorter term. According to court findings, the trio met the tourist in Seoul’s Itaewon nightclub district on 13 June 2024, drove her—while she was incapable of resistance—to Lee’s home in the Bangbae-dong area and sexually assaulted her. South Korean law classifies the act as both ‘aggravated’ because it involved multiple perpetrators and ‘quasi-rape’ because the victim was unconscious. Taeil debuted with SM Entertainment’s K-pop project NCT in 2016, but the label expelled him and ended his contract in August 2024 after the allegations surfaced. Thursday’s ruling marks one of the highest-profile criminal convictions of a K-pop idol in recent years.