Court posthumously acquits man convicted of killing wife to collect insurance money
Published: 12 Feb. 2026, 08:04
![An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/12/3075cb7d-29d4-4e38-a349-c90e2c1e1ea2.jpg)
An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]
A court on Wednesday posthumously acquitted a man who had been sentenced to life in prison 20 years ago for killing his wife to collect insurance money, in a retrial that went forward after he died behind bars.
The Gwangju District Court said in the retrial of the late man, identified only by his surname, Jang, that there was “insufficient proof” to support the indictment and found him not guilty.
The bench said some of the evidence that had been decisive in the Supreme Court’s decision upholding a life sentence was collected without a warrant and was procedurally unlawful, making it difficult to sustain a conviction based on that evidence.
Jang was indicted for allegedly staging a fatal crash on July 9, 2003, driving a cargo truck off a roadway at an intersection in Uisin-myeon, Jindo County, South Jeolla, into Songjeong Reservoir, then known as Myeonggeum Reservoir.
Prosecutors said he escaped while his wife, who was in the passenger's seat, died. The Supreme Court finalized his life sentence in 2005.
Police initially forwarded the case on suspicion of a traffic offense, but prosecutors later applied a murder charge, concluding he had caused the crash intentionally to collect about 880 million won ($605,000) in insurance payouts.
![Images of a road near Songjeong Reservoir (then Myeonggeum Reservoir) in Jindo County, South Jeolla, where the alleged “Jindo Reservoir Murder” took place on July 9, 2003 [PARK JUN-YOUNG]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/12/38ba003a-a708-43d9-ac3c-edd60b96a111.jpg)
Images of a road near Songjeong Reservoir (then Myeonggeum Reservoir) in Jindo County, South Jeolla, where the alleged “Jindo Reservoir Murder” took place on July 9, 2003 [PARK JUN-YOUNG]
Jang consistently argued during the investigation and trial that it was a drowsy-driving accident. He also said some of the policies had been taken out after his wife consulted acquaintances, but the courts did not accept his claims at the time.
In the retrial, however, the court said the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to conclude the crash was intentional, adding that the fact the victim held multiple insurance policies did not, on its own, prove the charge.
The case was reopened after a police officer in South Chungcheong and attorney Park Jun-young — known for handling retrial cases — reviewed it at the request of Jang’s family in 2017. The Supreme Court ordered a retrial in January 2024.
Jang died in April 2024 of acute leukemia on the same day a court granted a suspension of his prison sentence. He was 66. While criminal proceedings are typically dismissed when a defendant dies, the retrial continued in absentia even after his death.
If prosecutors appeal Wednesday’s ruling, the case is expected to be heard by an appellate court.
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 JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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