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

NEED TO KNOW

Choi Mal-ja, now 79, was convicted in 1965 in South Korea and sentenced to 10 months in prison for injuring a man who attempted to rape her, while her attacker received a six-month sentence

After being inspired by the #MeToo movement, Choi sought to overturn her conviction and prosecutors publicly apologized during her retrial

On Sept. 10, 2025, a district court in Busan, South Korea, overturned the conviction

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