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Prosecutors seek life sentence for shaman charged with niece's murder

Published: 29 Aug. 2025, 15:14

Charcoal burns in this file photo unrelated to the story. [NEWS1]

Prosecutors on Friday sought life imprisonment for a shaman who killed her niece with hot charcoal during a ritual to expel what she claimed were evil spirits.

At the final hearing at the Incheon District Court, prosecutors asked the bench to sentence the 79-year-old shaman to life in prison for murder. They also requested prison terms of 15 to 20 years for four accomplices, including her children, and seven years for two others charged with aiding the crime.

The shaman and her followers killed the woman, who was in her 30s, on Sept. 18 last year at a restaurant in Incheon’s Bupyeong District.

Investigators said the victim, the shaman's niece, wanted to quit her job at the restaurant and distance herself from the shaman.

The shaman insisted she needed to “expel evil spirits” and prepared the ritual with her children and other followers.

They tied the victim to a steel frame and held her down while pressing burning charcoal close to her body for three hours. The woman lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital the same day. She died the next day of multiple organ failure caused by severe burns.

Prosecutors said the shaman had long controlled her followers psychologically by telling them that they had to resolve real-world problems through rituals and offerings.

Police initially charged her and the others with manslaughter, but prosecutors later upgraded the charges to murder after further investigation.

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.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]