Man gets 8 months for failing to disclose HIV status during encounter
A Gwangju court on Thursday sentenced a man to prison for having unprotected sex without disclosing his HIV status, a case the judge said left the victim in “severe fear and shock.”
The Gwangju District Court sentenced the man to eight months in prison on Thursday for violating the Prevention of Acquired Immunodeficency Syndrome Act.
The court found that the man had sex on July 31 last year with an individual without using a prophylactic or revealing that he has been diagnosed with HIV.
The victim later contracted another sexually transmitted disease. While tracing the source of that infection, authorities learned that the man was HIV-positive. Tests conducted since the encounter showed that the victim has remained HIV-negative.
Investigators said the man had previously committed several drug-related offenses and met the victim while on parole. He is currently serving a separate two-year prison sentence after a conviction in an unrelated drug case.
“The victim experienced severe fear and shock after learning of the infection risk following the sexual encounter and is calling for strict punishment,” the judge said, adding that “the defendant has not compensated the victim, citing financial difficulties.”
“In determining the sentence, the court considered that the defendant initially used a contraceptive before acting impulsively, as well as the need to balance sentencing with penalties already imposed in other cases,” the judge said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor.
