"A Disgrace to the Country, Already His Fifth Arrest": Korean Man in His 20s Arrested in Japan on Suspicion of Sex Crimes Against Minors

Rearrested on suspicion of raping and filming a first-year middle school girl

Already indicted in cases involving 9- and 12-year-old girls

Online users outraged: "Why is he still in Japan?"

A Korean man in his 20s, who has been arrested four times in Japan this year on suspicion of sex crimes against minors, has been arrested again on suspicion of sexually assaulting a middle school student and filming the assault.

Lured victims through social media and committed sex crimes... arrested four times this year alone

A Korean man in his 20s was arrested by local police in Japan on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female middle school student and filming the crime, Kansai TV reported.

According to Japan's Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) on November 1, Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested a 25-year-old unemployed Korean national with no fixed address on October 27 on suspicion of sexual assault and other offenses. This was his fifth arrest. He is suspected of luring a first-year middle school girl he met on social media in April by messaging her, then sexually assaulting her at the home where he was living in Osaka at the time and filming the assault on his smartphone.

Police believe he lured the victim in the same way as in his previous cases. He had already been arrested four times this year on suspicion of sexually assaulting girls aged 9 to 14 and other offenses. According to Kansai TV, his first arrest came in May this year on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. Police are said to have uncovered a series of other offenses, including a case involving a 9-year-old girl, while analyzing the smartphone and social media records seized from him.

He has already been indicted on suspicion of sexually assaulting 9- and 12-year-old girls between 2025 and 2026. On July 28, he was arrested again on suspicion of luring a third-year middle school girl, then 14, who lived in Aichi Prefecture, through social media and sexually assaulting her at a karaoke venue in Nagoya, among other offenses.

"Why is he still in Japan?" Outrage grows... more victims may emerge

On Japan's X (formerly Twitter), some users called for him to be deported, asking, "This is his fifth arrest. Why is he still allowed to remain in Japan?" In Japan, suspects are often arrested again on separate charges when other alleged offenses come to light while they are in custody. MBS also described this arrest as a "rearrest." However, local reports have not confirmed whether he had remained in custody continuously since his first arrest.

He is reportedly exercising his right to remain silent during police questioning. Police are continuing their investigation, believing there may be additional victims. Local media disclosed his full name and age and broadcast footage of him at the time of his arrest without blurring his face.

Sex crimes involving South Koreans have recently become a recurring issue in Japan. In September 2025, a South Korean student was arrested in Tokyo on suspicion of taking a high school girl he had met through a language-learning app to a university dormitory and sexually assaulting her. The student partially denied the allegations, saying, "I did touch her body, but nothing beyond that happened," and was not indicted in November of the same year. In October 2025, another South Korean was arrested on suspicion of molesting a middle school girl who was on her way home in Tokyo.

According to Japan's National Police Agency, 1,566 children under 18 were victims of sex crimes and other offenses after making contact through social media in 2025. Of these, 167 were elementary school students, the highest number in the past 10 years. Instagram and X were the most common ways victims first met perpetrators, while LINE was reportedly used for subsequent communication.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.