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25-year sentence for man who stabbed cleaner to death

Published: 02 Oct. 2025, 20:55

Li, accused of murdering a sanitation worker in his 60s at the Sungnyemun underpass, appears for a pretrial detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, Seoul, on Aug. 4, 2024. [NEWS1]

A Chinese man received a 25-year prison sentence for fatally stabbing a street cleaner near central Seoul's Sungnyemun Gate, central Seoul, the Supreme Court confirmed Thursday.

The court also upheld a 20-year order for the 72-year-old man, surnamed Li, to wear an electronic monitoring device.

“The lower court’s sentence cannot be seen as unjust, even when considering the defendant’s age, character and circumstances,” the court said.

Li, an ethnic Korean from China who had been staying in Korea illegally, stabbed a 60-year-old woman 15 times with scissors as she was cleaning an underpass near Sungnyemun Gate in the early morning of Aug. 2, 2024.

Prosecutors said Li, who knew the victim, attacked her after she refused his request for water and he felt slighted. A district court sentenced him to 25 years in February.

“Given the motive and brutality of the crime, as well as the defendant’s relationship with the victim, the offense is extremely grave and warrants heavy punishment,” the court said at the time. It added, “The victim attempted to defend herself with her foot, but the defendant looked at his wristwatch and calmly attacked again, which must have caused her extreme fear.”

The court also ordered 20 years of electronic monitoring, saying, “The defendant shows little sign of remorse. Despite the cruel nature of the crime, he denied intending to kill during questioning and even blamed the victim’s personality for the incident.”

In June, an appellate court upheld the ruling. “The defendant initially denied intent to kill but later admitted he had at least probable intent. However, such a change cannot be seen as a major development that makes the original sentence excessive,” the court said.

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 KIM JUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]