Former NCT’s Taeil admits to aggravated rape, requests leniency in first public appearance; disturbing texts with co-accused revealed

Also read: K-Pop star Taeil quits NCT 127 after being accused of a sexual crime, label apologises for ‘distress caused by our artist’

According to prosecutors, it was not a random crime but a pre-planned one. Text exchanges were recovered where they spoke about a particular foreign woman. In the later part, they even discussed changing the GPS settings in the taxi to cover up the location of the crime. It took police over 2 months to check the CCTV footage to uncover exactly what happened. 

What did Taeil say?

In court, Taeil asked for leniency. His legal team said that he turned himself in, apologised to the victim, and that they had reached a settlement with her as well. “Taeil submitted a statement of self-surrender to the police. He also went through the difficult process of reaching an agreement with the victim, who is Chinese, and even received a letter from the victim stating she did not want further punishment levied,” his legal counsel told the court. However,  the prosecutors are still arguing whether Taeil truly surrendered or just did it later to lessen his sentence. They said the crime was not only violent but left the victim deeply hurt emotionally and mentally and thus have asked the court to sentence Taeil and his two accomplices to seven years in prison each.

Also read: Rising K-pop group disbands overnight, after married CEO’s affair with member blows up online: Report

Back in August 2024, when the charges hadn’t been made public yet, SM quietly removed Taeil without giving any explanations and said they had taken the decision based on a serious criminal charge. After August 28, Taeil didn’t show up in public, his last appearance being NCT’s fan meeting. He was later spotted drinking with friends; the public saw him for the first time in 10 months.

NCT is made up of 25 members divided into 6 sub-units, which operate under NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, NCT DoJaeJung, and NCT Wish. Taeil was in NCT U and NCT 127. The final decision of the court is expected to be made in coming week.