Jang Yun-gi, who was found guilty of killing a high school girl in Gwangju in an attempt to sexually assault her, is escorted into a courtroom at the Gwangju District Court for his sentencing on Sept. 30.NEWS1
A man who killed a high school girl on a Gwangju street in an attempt to sexually assault her was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, after prosecutors had sought the death penalty.
The Gwangju District Court handed down the sentence to Jang Yun-gi. He was detained and indicted on charges including murder in the course of rape. The court tacked on an order to wear an electronic ankle monitor and barred him from working at institutions for children, adolescents and people with disabilities for 10 years.
Prosecutors had charged Jang with murder in the course of rape, which carries only two possible sentences: death or life imprisonment. They demanded the death penalty at the final hearing on Aug. 31.
"The court finds the defendant guilty of all the charges," the court said. "The prosecution's argument that the defendant must be permanently separated from society is valid."
The court said its sentence took into account that "Korea is effectively an abolitionist country, that there is no absolute life sentence to bridge the gap between the death penalty and life imprisonment and Supreme Court precedent."
Korea has not carried out an execution since December 1997.
Jang was charged with killing the student around 12:10 a.m. on May 5 on a deserted walkway in Wolgye-dong in Gwangju's Gwangsan District. He was also charged with attacking a second-year high school boy with a weapon after the boy ran over on hearing her screams.
Jang Yun-gi is referred to prosecutors from the Gwangju Seobu Police Station on May 14.NEWS1
The indictment included several other sex crimes. Two days before the killing, Jang allegedly stalked and sexually assaulted a woman who worked with him at a part-time job. He was also accused of secretly filming a teenage girl's body while serving as a social service agent, an alternative to military service carried out at public institutions.
Jang admitted to all the charges in court, including murder with intent to rape, and submitted three letters of remorse.
Around the sentencing, the victim's family staged a one-person protest calling for the maximum penalty allowed by law. The family also submitted a petition to the court demanding severe punishment that had about 100,000 signatures.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
