[Source: Entertainment Weekly]

The singer pleaded guilty to a special quasi-rape charge, which applies when two or more people jointly engage in sexual acts with a victim who is unconscious.

South Korean singer and former NCT member Taeil and two other individuals were each sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Thursday on a rape charge involving an intoxicated tourist, according to multiple news outlets.

The development comes one month after the 31-year-old singer, whose legal name is Moon Taeil, pleaded guilty alongside the other two perpetrators, listed as Lee and Hong, to a special quasi-rape charge, reports The New York Times, The Korea Herald, and the BBC. The charge applies in specific South Korean legal cases in which two or more individuals jointly engage in sexual acts with a victim who is unconscious or unable to resist, per the Herald.

Taeil and the other men met the victim, a Chinese tourist visiting South Korea, at a bar in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul, last June, according to the Herald. After drinking together, they reportedly took her in a taxi to Lee’s home, where they raped her.

“The defendants took turns committing sexual acts against the victim, who was severely intoxicated and unable to resist. The nature of the crime is particularly grave,” court officials stated, per The Korea Herald. “As a foreign tourist assaulted in an unfamiliar environment, the victim likely experienced significant psychological distress.”

The prosecution had originally sought a seven-year prison sentence for all three men, but due to it being their first offense the court determined that they would serve half of that, reports the BBC. They will also have to complete a 40-hour sexual violence program, according to The New York Times.

Taeil was one of the founding members of SM Entertainment’s global boy group NCT, appearing in several iterations of the 25-member group’s separate musical configurations, including NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT 2020. He also released a series of singles and appeared on the soundtracks of several popular K-dramas.

Last August, SM announced in a statement translated by the Associated Press that it had parted ways with Taeil after learning that he had been “accused in a criminal case related to a sexual crime.” They did not provide additional information about the case at the time.

However, two months later, the company confirmed that it had terminated Taeil’s contract, reported the South Korean newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily.

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