Sillim-dong hiking trail killer gets life in prison

A 30-year-old man who killed a woman after beating her with brass knuckles at a park in Sillim-dong, southern Seoul, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday.

Choi Yoon-jong, center, answers reporters' questions as he is escorted from Seoul Gwanak Police Precinct to face questioning by prosecutors on Aug. 25. Choi was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for murdering a woman he attacked on a hiking trail in Sillim-dong, Gwanak District, southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

A 30-year-old man who killed a woman after beating her with brass knuckles at a park in Sillim-dong, southern Seoul, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Choi Yoon-jong, who followed the victim to a remote area along a hiking trail in Gwanak District before attacking her with the intent of raping her on Aug. 17.

Choi said during the police investigation and subsequent trial that he beat the victim to rape her but claimed he did not intend to murder her. He also said he ultimately failed in his attempt to rape her.

Judge Jeong Jin-ah, who presided over the case at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed Choi’s argument based on the fact that the victim “bore signs of having been strangled for four to six minutes after losing consciousness” as she pronounced the court’s judgment against him.

The judge also said Choi’s life sentence is intended to “prevent the recurrence of similar crimes against women” and serve justice to the victim’s family, whom she said “have suffered an irreplaceable loss.”

The victim was only identified by the police as a schoolteacher in her 30s. She was reportedly on her way to her school for staff training the day she was attacked.

The woman lost consciousness right after the attack and remained unconscious until she died two days later.

In seeking the death penalty for Choi, prosecutors argued that he had planned the murder by acquiring the brass knuckles he used to beat the victim in advance.

While the court’s judgment accepted the need to remove Choi from society permanently, it also said that he lived as a “hidden loner” without meaningful human interaction “after having been neglected from a young age.”

The court also noted that Korea “has de facto abolished the death penalty” and that “it is necessary for the state to exercise caution before employing capital punishment.”

While the court, in its judgment, recommended that Choi never be considered for parole, it also ruled that he must wear an electronic tracking device for 30 years if he were to be released and mandated the disclosure of his personal information and a ban on employment at institutions where children are present for ten years.

Under Korean law, life sentences always include the possibility of parole, though in practice, parole is offered at the discretion of correctional authorities.

The pronouncement of Choi’s sentence was immediately met with protests from the victim’s family, who were heard crying in the courtroom, “Why save a man who is worth less than a dog?”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]