By Kim Rahn





An appellate court has found a man guilty of child abuse for having a seven-year-old girl watch him sexually stimulate himself. It was the first recognition of such an act as child abuse.

What appears to be legally more important is that the ruling is likely to influence similar cases where men expose themselves to schoolgirls.

These exhibitionists are often called "Burberry Men" because they often only wear trench coats and nothing else while exposing themselves to schoolgirls.

They are currently punished for public obscenity. Child abuse carries heavier punishment.

On Thursday, the Seoul High Court sentenced the 47-year-old man, surnamed Park, to 18 months in prison with the term suspended for three years. He was indicted for having a girl watch himself masturbate.

According to the court, Park was engaged in this while watching pornography on a multimedia player, on the street near an elementary school in Yangyang, Gangwon Province, last June.

As the girl was passing by his car, he introduced himself as a sex education teacher and lured her inside his car, giving her 1,000 won.

A lower court convicted Park for indecent exposure and sexual assault on a minor, and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. It also ordered his personal information to be made public for five years and ordered him to undergo cognitive therapy for 80 hours.

However, Park appealed to the high court, claiming he didn't assault the young girl. .

The prosecution added child abuse charge.

"The punishment got lighter because the court did not accept the forcible sexual assault on a minor verdict, but agreed to acknowledge child abuse. But it is significant that indecent exposure toward minors will be treated as child abuse," a court official said.