Family demands heavier juvenile sentences after brutal stabbings of mother, two daughters in Wonju
Published: 11 Feb. 2026, 16:19
![[JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/11/6860fab1-16b4-4f0d-8751-738dd13dc08b.jpg)
[JOONGANG ILBO]
After a teenage boy allegedly stabbed a mother and her two daughters at an apartment in Wonju, Gangwon, the victims’ family is demanding tougher criminal punishment for minors, arguing that current sentencing limits fail to reflect the brutality of juvenile crime.
A petition was posted on the National Assembly’s public petition website on Monday.
“Under current law, minors aged 14 to 17 can be subject to criminal punishment and protective disposition concurrently,” the victims’ family wrote in the petition. “However, because they are under 18, they cannot be sentenced to the death penalty or life imprisonment, and the maximum fixed sentence is limited to 15 years.”
They argued that “no exceptions should be made in imposing criminal punishment for increasingly heinous violent crimes, and the upper limit for fixed imprisonment should be adjusted upward to reflect reality.
“If the sentence is drastically reduced solely because the perpetrator is a minor, that would amount to another act of violence against the victims and their family,” they continued, stressing the need for “effective and strong punishment for violent crimes committed by juvenile offenders and minors.”
On Thursday, the suspect was arrested on charges of attempted murder after allegedly attacking a woman and her daughters with a weapon he had prepared in advance at an apartment in Dangu-dong, Wonju.
The mother suffered severe injuries to her neck from the attack, while the daughters suffered stab wounds to their right arms and shoulders.
![A petition was posted on the National Assembly’s public petition website on Feb. 9 demanding tougher criminal punishment for minors after a teenage boy stabbed a mother and her two daughters at their home in Wonju, Gangwon. [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/11/505e273e-f78f-4ec7-ae39-600cc133e4eb.jpg)
A petition was posted on the National Assembly’s public petition website on Feb. 9 demanding tougher criminal punishment for minors after a teenage boy stabbed a mother and her two daughters at their home in Wonju, Gangwon. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
The victims’ family said the suspect “indiscriminately assaulted the victims not only with a weapon but also with a mobile phone and his fists, leaving the mother’s face so severely wounded that she was unrecognizable.”
“All of the victims are women, and in particular, the scars that will remain on their faces go beyond mere physical injuries and will cause lifelong psychological and social suffering,” the family added.
They also said the suspect had previously practiced boxing and was physically similar in build to an adult male.
“The fact that such an individual used a weapon and a blunt object to launch an indiscriminate attack against women clearly constitutes a crime in which intent to kill can be recognized,” the family said, emphasizing that it was “an extremely brutal and serious violent crime, not an impulsive act or simple assault.”
They urged that “at least in this case, strict and exceptionless enforcement of the law should ensure that the maximum criminal penalty is imposed on the perpetrator,” adding that such a ruling would serve as a "social warning needed to prevent such tragedies from recurring and as justice for the innocent victims.”
A public petition is referred to a relevant standing committee of the National Assembly if it garners at least 50,000 signatures within 30 days of being posted online. As of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, about 14,000 people had signed the petition.
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 EUN-BIN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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