By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Can repentance and atonement change a villain into a good man? Looking into the case of Cho Yang-eun, gangster-turned-protestant Christianity evangelist-then gangster again, people may say ``no.''
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's ruling which sentenced Cho, 58, to one and a half years in prison on charges of violence.
According to the court, Cho hit a man identified as Hwang with an ashtray and punched him for allegedly bad-mouthing him at a bar in downtown Seoul in 2005. Hwang needed medical care for three weeks and Cho was arrested on the spot.
The court said, ``an ashtray can be a lethal weapon in cases and it has been only three years since he came out of prison.''
Cho ruled the underground world in the 1970s and 1980s when he formed the gangster group Yangeunipa, named after him, and violated numerous laws. He was first sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1980 for forming a crime ring.
Cho made headlines in 1995 when he announced that he had become a Christian in prison and that he would live a new life. He was baptized and went to bible school, gaining a master's degree.
However, his so-called new life did not last long. He was indicted six times more over hustling, gambling abroad and other charges. He was imprisoned two times between 1996-1998 and 2001 to 2002.