Prosecutors, convicted killer both appeal life sentence in drug drink case
Prosecutors seek the death penalty while Kim So-young challenges her life sentence over attacks involving drug-laced drinks that killed two men.
Mug shots of Kim So-yeong, a woman accused of giving drug-laced drinks to men at motels in Gangbuk District, northern Seoul, provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on March 9
YONHAP
Both prosecutors and a woman sentenced to life in prison for killing two men with drug-laced drinks have appealed the ruling, with prosecutors seeking a heavier punishment after demanding the death penalty.
The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office announced Wednesday that it appealed to the first-instance ruling that handed Kim So-young a life-sentence. In Korean court proceedings, the prosecution is also allowed to appeal rulings.
Kim had been indicted for allegedly drugging three men with benzodiazepine-laced drinks between mid-December of last year and February of this year. Two of them died, with another left unconscious. She was detained and indicted in March. Prosecutors added charges in April after investigators identified three more men injured in similar attacks.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Kim during the final hearing on Aug. 18. They argued in their appeal that the life sentence was too lenient given the severity of her crimes.
Prosecutors also challenged the trial court’s acquittal of Kim on a charge of aggravated injury involving one of the six victims.
Kim had already filed her own appeal to the life sentence with the Seoul Northern District Court on Friday, one day after she was handed the sentence.
The court sentenced Kim on Thursday to life in prison on charges including murder, aggravated injury and violations of the Narcotics Control Act. It also ordered her to wear an electronic monitoring device for 30 years.
The court found that Kim had planned the crimes despite being fully aware that her actions could result in the victims’ deaths. It concluded that she had acted with conditional intent to kill.
The first-instance court, however, acquitted Kim of aggravated injury in one of the six cases because it found that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove the charge.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]
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.
