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Prosecutors seek death penalty in fatal stabbing of convenience store worker

Published: 08 Sep. 2025, 20:05

An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

Prosecutors seek the death penalty for a man charged with stabbing his stepbrother and a convenience store worker to death in Siheung, Gyeonggi, in February.

Prosecutors directed the Suwon District Court in Suwon, Gyeonggi, to impose capital punishment on the defendant, who had been charged with violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, at a sentencing hearing on Monday.

“The value of human life is absolute and cannot be replaced,” prosecutors said. “The defendant committed a grave crime by fatally stabbing his stepbrother over insults and killing a convenience store worker as an act of retaliation for a past assault case. The social harm is severe when such serious crimes are committed based solely on personal emotions.”

The defense acknowledged the killings but asked the court to carefully consider whether the second case qualified as retaliatory murder, claiming the defendant had acted in a diminished mental state.

“I am sorry,” the man said in his final statement. “I was wrong. I regret what I did.”

A family member of the convenience store worker attended the trial.

"Whatever the sentence, the death penalty has long been abolished," the family member said. "We ask that he receive life imprisonment without parole.”

The defendant killed his stepbrother at their home in Siheung around 6:50 p.m. on Feb. 12 after the stepbrother cursed at him, investigators said.

About 10 minutes later, he went to a nearby convenience store and fatally stabbed a woman in her 20s who worked there.

During questioning, he told prosecutors he remembered being reported to police in an earlier assault case after a dispute with the victim’s sister, who had once worked at the same convenience store. He said he had the younger sister for the older one and attacked her in revenge.

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 HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]