Life sentence upheld for elementary school teacher who murdered first-grader

A Daejeon elementary school teacher convicted of murdering a first-grade student was sentenced to life in prison on appeal, upholding the lower court’s ruling.

A mugshot of elementary school teacher Myeong Jae-wan, who was convicted of fatally stabbing 7-year-old Kim Ha-neul at an elementary school in Daejeon [DAEJEON METROPOLITAN POLICE]

A Daejeon elementary school teacher convicted of murdering a first-grade student was sentenced to life in prison on appeal, upholding the lower court’s ruling.

The Daejeon High Court on Friday dismissed appeals filed by both prosecutors and the defendant, Myeong Jae-wan, and upheld her life sentence. The court also maintained a 30-year order for the attachment of a location-tracking electronic device.

Prosecutors had again sought the death penalty during the final hearing of the appeals trial on Dec. 17, 2025, as they had in the initial trial.

“The grounds cited by the prosecution and defense appear to have been fully considered during the initial sentencing,” the court said in its ruling. “There have been no new circumstances since the first trial that would justify reconsideration, so we reject both sides’ claims of an inappropriate sentence.”

The defense’s argument that Myeong was mentally and emotionally impaired at the time of the crime was also dismissed.

“The defendant deliberately selected her victim, prepared the murder weapon in advance and took actions after the crime to avoid detection,” the court said. “These facts indicate that she retained the ability to distinguish right from wrong and control her actions. Even if there were some mental or emotional impairment, the gravity of this case does not warrant a lighter sentence.”

Regarding the prosecution’s call for the death penalty, the court said, “The first trial carefully considered all sentencing factors and acknowledged that capital punishment is an extreme penalty that deprives an individual of life. Instead of execution, the court chose to isolate the defendant from society permanently to allow for lifelong reflection and remorse. This decision does not fall outside the bounds of reasonable sentencing.”

Myeong was convicted of luring 7-year-old Kim Ha-neul, a student at the elementary school where she worked, into an audiovisual room on Feb. 10, 2025, under the pretense of giving her a book. There, Myeong fatally stabbed her with a weapon she had prepared in advance.

In the initial trial, the court described the case as “unprecedented” — an elementary school teacher brutally murdering a 7-year-old student at the very school where she taught — and emphasized the nationwide shock and outrage it provoked. The prosecution had called for the death penalty, arguing that life imprisonment was too lenient, while Myeong’s defense argued she was mentally impaired. Both sides appealed the sentence.

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 CHO MUN-GYU [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]