• Choi Mal-ja acquitted after 61 years for biting off her attacker's tongue during an assault.
• The court ruled her actions were "justifiable self-defense" under South Korean law.
• Her case has been impactful in shaping the legal perspective on self-defense in sexual violence incidents.
• The acquittal is seen as a victory for women’s rights amid ongoing advocacy efforts in South Korea.
• Choi plans to seek state compensation for the damages suffered from her past conviction.

A South Korean woman, Choi Mal-ja, was acquitted by the Busan District Court on Wednesday, overturning a 1965 conviction for biting off the tongue of a man who sexually assaulted her. At the time of the incident in 1964, Choi was only 19 and had been attacked by a 21-year-old man in Gimhae, who pinned her down and forced his tongue into her mouth. The court's recent ruling described her actions as “justifiable self-defense,” recognizing them as a legitimate escape from an unjust infringement on her bodily integrity, according to BBC and Al Jazeera.

Initially, in one of South Korea's most controversial sexual violence cases, Choi was sentenced to ten months in prison, while her attacker received only a six-month suspended sentence for trespassing and intimidation, but was never charged for attempted rape. This highlighted a significant disparity in how victims and aggressors were treated under the law. The recent acquittal comes more than 60 years later, amid a growing movement for women's rights in South Korea, fueled by the global #MeToo movement that began in 2017. Choi's appeal was inspired by this movement, and she sought justice by filing for a retrial in 2020, despite initial rejections from lower courts, as reported by CBS News and Al Jazeera.

Wearing a bright pink blazer, Choi expressed joy and hope for other victims in a post-ruling press conference, stating, "For the victims who shared the same fate as mine, I wanted to be a source of hope for them." Women’s rights groups have celebrated the ruling as a momentous shift in the legal landscape for self-defense cases related to sexual violence. Song Ran-hee, head of the Korea Women’s Hotline, emphasized the importance of the verdict, believing it will pave the way for future victims to seek justice without facing unjust suffering, according to BBC and CBS News.

This significant ruling also recounted other similar cases in South Korea, where women successfully defended themselves against sexual assailants by biting off their tongues and were subsequently recognized as legitimate acts of self-defense. Such precedents highlight a shifting perspective in the judicial treatment of women's rights and self-defense in sexual assault cases. Following this prominent case, Choi plans to pursue compensation for the damages she has endured as a result of her six-decade long legal battle, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera.