By Kim Bo-eun
A district court sentenced a rapist to life imprisonment for kidnapping and raping a school girl in Naju, South Jeolla Province last year.
Koh Jong-seok, 24, was found guilty of abducting the eight-year-old girl from her home where she had been asleep, raping her and attempting to kill her afterward in Naju last August.
Gwangju District Court also ordered Koh to undergo chemical castration, wear an electronic anklet for 30 years if he is ever released on parole and have his personal information made public for 10 years, also pending parole.
“The case was a brutal crime committed against a schoolgirl who had been sleeping at her home, the most comforting and safe place for her,” the presiding judge said. “Because Koh could possibly commit even more horrendous crimes, he should rightfully be isolated from society.”
Prosecutors had previously sought the death penalty for Koh, arguing that the victim had to undergo major surgery due to the violent rape.
However, while the court acknowledged the brutality of the crime, degree of shock and physical and psychological trauma suffered by the victim, it was deemed insufficient to give Koh the death penalty.
“The death penalty is the most extreme form of punishment which can only be given in exceptional cases,” the judge said. “The death penalty was spared considering that the victim did not die.”
President Lee Myung-bak made a public apology for the incident which at the time sent shock waves across the nation.