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A man in his 50s who killed the wives of his cousins. News1
Sept. 30, 2022. A man in his 50s who stabbed two married couples — cousins and their wives — during a social gathering, killing both women, had his life sentence upheld on appeal. The Daejeon High Court’s Criminal Division 1-1, presided over by Chief Judge Jung Kyung-mi, said it was maintaining the life term handed down by the lower court against the defendant, identified only as A, who had been indicted and detained on charges including murder.
The attack took place around midnight on April 13 that year on a street outside a karaoke bar in Seonghwan-eup, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. A had been arguing with the two couples when he retrieved a knife stored in his car and attacked them.
The couples had dinner that evening and then went to the karaoke bar. As they were leaving, a minor dispute broke out with A. Companions on both sides intervened and the situation appeared to calm down, but A — whom the others believed had gone home — returned with a knife and began stabbing.
A man in his 50s attacked four people gathered for a couples’ meeting with a knife on a road in Seobuk-gu, Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. Screenshot from Channel A
Closed-circuit television footage from the scene showed A chasing the fleeing victims as they ran across a four-lane road. The attack, which began after midnight, lasted nearly five minutes. Both wives died, and their husbands were also stabbed and required treatment. The two couples had two and three children, respectively.
The couples had never met A before that day, and A was found to have multiple prior convictions, including for assault. During police questioning, A claimed he attacked because “the other side picked a fight with me.”
After the case, a person identified only as B, who said they had been a friend of one of the victims for 30 years, posted online calling for severe punishment. “The attacker went after only the vital points of the weakest — the women,” B wrote. “The attacker chased down people who were already stabbed, injured and fleeing in terror, and stabbed them again.”
Prosecutors Sought Death Penalty
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, the maximum punishment under the law, arguing that A “showed contempt for human life by chasing down and threatening victims who were already wounded.” The bereaved families also demanded a harsh sentence, saying they had never received a proper apology from A.
In imposing the life sentence, the court said A “has prior convictions for violence, and the method and instrument of the assault were brutal, indicating a high risk of reoffending,” adding that he “must be permanently separated from society.” The court also cited the devastation inflicted on the surviving husbands’ families and the fact that the children would grow up without their mothers’ care.
Separately, data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency to lawmaker Ahn Sang-hoon of the People Power Party last year showed that the recidivism rate for violent crime over the past five years was 11.8%, while the rate for murder was 5.3%.
