SEOUL — Decades after enduring a miscarriage of justice that branded a sexual violence survivor as a criminal, South Korea's state-backed legal representatives are facing intense public backlash for defending the original prosecution.

Choi Mal-ja, now 80 years old, secured a historic acquittal in a retrial last September, overturning a conviction she received 61 years ago. In 1964, Choi bit the tongue of a man who attempted to sexually assault her. While police initially recognized her actions as self-defense, prosecutors subsequently detained her without a warrant, dropped the attempted rape case against the assailant, and instead indicted Choi for intimidation and trespassing.

Following her formal exoneration, Choi filed a damages suit seeking approximately 1 billion won ($720,000 USD) from the government, citing severe psychological trauma and decades of social stigma resulting from systemic state misconduct.

However, the Government Legal Aid Corporation—acting as legal counsel for the state—has mounted a defense arguing that the historical prosecution and trial procedures were valid under the legal standards and social norms of the 1960s. In court filings, state attorneys asserted that the Supreme Court had not yet established clear legal frameworks for legitimate self-defense at the time, and defended past judicial practices, including invasive physical examinations ordered during the original trial.

Legal experts and civic advocates have fiercely criticized the government's stance, pointing out a stark contradiction. During last year's retrial proceedings, the prosecution formally apologized to Choi, explicitly admitting that state authorities had failed to protect a victim and instead subjected her to systemic injustice.

Critics argue that the state’s current legal defense undermines the fundamental purpose of the retrial system: rectifying past judicial errors and restoring justice to victims of state violence. With the trial's final hearing scheduled for the 27th, growing pressure is mounting on the Ministry of Justice—the supervisory authority over the Government Legal Aid Corporation—to intervene and retract the state's contested defense.

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