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Group BAP member Himchan (32, Himchan Kim) was accused of forcibly molesting two women.



Himchan, who was also indicted on charges of sexual assault in 2018, was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial, and was charged with the same charge during the appeals trial.



According to the legal community, Himchan is accused of sexually harassing two women while intoxicated on the stairs outside a pub in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, run by an acquaintance, on April 17th.

It is known that the two women visited the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul within hours of the incident and reported it directly.

One in two is a foreigner.



The women who reported that visited the pub and saw Himchan for the first time. When Himchan took the cell phone of a woman who was waiting for food and protested to return it, they wrapped their hands around the woman's waist on the outside stairs and said, 'Go upstairs together. Let's go,' he insisted.

Another woman also claimed to the effect that "she felt Himchan touching her breast, and she immediately protested strongly."



The police have secured and are analyzing all CCTVs that illuminate the outside stairs of the pub, and are conducting an investigation, including receiving witness statements from employees working at the pub.



Himchan's legal representative denied the allegation of forced sexual assault, saying, "As you can see from the CCTV footage, there was unavoidable physical contact, but there was no sexual intention."



He continued, "I was standing on a narrow and steep staircase and another customer opened the stair door and came out, and as a precautionary measure, there was a case where a woman's hand was touched on the back of a woman. There was no fact of touching at all, and there was contact for a similar (risk prevention) purpose.



The woman who sued Himchan said through an aide, "I was so angry right after the incident that I strongly protested to the pub, and the president sent him in a taxi to get drunk. "I am very concerned that he may be harming others the same way he did to us while intoxicated."



Himchan debuted in the music industry as a member of BAP in 2011, but was charged with sexual assault in September 2019 and sentenced to 10 months in prison at the first trial in February last year.



Himchan, who avoided court arrest for the settlement process with the victim, admitted all charges of forced molestation at the first trial of the appeals court on April 12.



The second trial will be held at the Seoul Central District Court on June 14. 



(SBS Entertainment News reporter Kang Kyung-yoon)