Korean-Chinese gets 25 years in prison for killing lover

By Yi Whan-woo

A court sentenced a Korean-Chinese man to 25 years in prison Wednesday for killing his partner in a revenge attack after she reported him to police for raping her repeatedly.

The Seoul Southern District Court ruled that the 44-year-old man, surnamed Lee, must be subject to a severe punishment for his “unacceptable act.”

Lee was arrested by police for murdering the victim by stabbing her 32 times on the neck and stomach with a knife on April 21 at her house in Geumcheon-gu, southwestern Seoul.

His 43-year-old victim, surnamed Kang, reported him to police after he raped her a number of times at his house over three consecutive days in March. The court said the man used abusive language and beat Kang, also a Korean-Chinese, because she demanded that she will leave him for financial reasons after living together for months in the country.

The court previously turned down a request from prosecutors for an arrest warrant for Lee when police caught him on April 1 and sought to detain him for a thorough investigation. The court said that “he has no reason to escape because he has lived in Korea with a valid residential address.”

Lee waited for weeks before he visited the victim with a premeditated scheme to kill her in revenge.

“The nature of his crime was extremely dangerous, brutal, and horrendous and it’s appropriate that we segregate the plaintiff from society,” the court said in its ruling.

The court’s sentence came amid rising societal concern after a series of rapes and sexual assaults against women and minors in recent months.