Man gets 4-year prison term for stabbing 2 policemen in front of presidential office

Policemen arrest a man in his 70s, who stabbed two police officers on-duty in front of the presidential office in this Oct. 31, 2023 file photo. Yonhap

A man in his 70s indicted for stabbing two police officers on-duty in front of the presidential office was sentenced to four years in prison Friday.

The Seoul Western District Court handed down the sentence, along with three years of probation, for the 78-year-old on charges including attempted murder.

The man, identified by his family name Park, was accused of stabbing two officers in front of the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan district, one in the abdomen and the other in the arm, on Oct. 31.

Park allegedly has a record of assaulting police officers with a wooden stick in September the same year, near where the attack took place.

"The defendant committed a grave crime that could have led to the death of police officers," the court said.

The court also said it took into account the defendant's state of mental illness to reduce the sentence. Earlier, prosecutors demanded a seven-year prison sentence for the man.

Park's lawyer had earlier claimed the crime took place on impulse, as the man was visiting the area in protest after a bank rejected his old-age pension. (Yonhap)