Husband who poured boiling water on Thai wife gets sentence reduction on appeal
Summary
The Uijeongbu District Court reduced a Korean man’s prison sentence for pouring boiling water on his sleeping Thai wife at their home in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on Dec. 3, 2025. At an appeal hearing on Oct. 22, the court sentenced him to three years, citing a settlement and the victim’s request for leniency. The man had initially claimed the water spilled accidentally but later admitted the charges.
Key Facts
- The man was indicted and detained on charges of aggravated injury.
- The settlement included payment of 15 million won to the victim.
- A Seoul hospital specializing in burn treatment reported suspected abuse to police after treating the wife.
- In June, the trial court imposed a three-and-a-half-year sentence, six months longer than the three-year term prosecutors had sought.
A Thai woman who suffered burns across her face after her Korean husband poured boiling water on her receives treatment with her face wrapped in bandages. Captured from Facebook
A Korean man who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for pouring boiling water on his sleeping Thai wife and causing severe burns has had his sentence reduced by six months on appeal.
According to legal sources on Wednesday, the Uijeongbu District Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Judge Jeong Do-young, overturned the lower court's ruling and sentenced the man in his 40s to three years in prison at an appeal hearing on Oct. 22. The man had been indicted and detained on charges of aggravated injury.
"The defendant reached a settlement with the victim under conditions including paying her 15 million won ($11,000), and the victim wishes the court to show leniency toward him," the appellate court said. "Considering all the sentencing factors presented during the proceedings, we find that the original sentence was too harsh and therefore unjust."
The man was indicted on charges of pouring water boiled in an electric kettle over the face and neck of his Thai wife, identified as B, while she was sleeping at their home in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on Dec. 3, 2025, causing burns.
The case came to light after a specialized burn treatment hospital in Seoul that treated the wife reported suspected abuse to the police. At the time, her side claimed that the husband had said he "wanted to make her ugly so she wouldn't meet another man."
During police questioning, the man denied the allegations, claiming he had accidentally spilled the water when he fell. However, in court, he admitted to all the charges and pleaded for leniency.
In June this year, the trial court sentenced him to three years and six months in prison, a harsher penalty than the three-year term sought by prosecutors. The first-instance court cited "special aggravating factors" in determining the sentence.
With the reduction on appeal, the man will now serve the same prison term originally sought by prosecutors.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
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