South Korea | Man who murdered Gwangju high school girl gets life in prison

Jang Yun-gi avoided the death penalty sought by the prosecution for murdering a student while attempting to rape her.

A man who killed a high school girl on a Gwangju street in an attempt to sexually assault her was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, after prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

Prosecutors had charged Jang with murder in the course of rape, which carries only two possible sentences: death or life imprisonment. They demanded the death penalty at the final hearing on Aug. 31.

"The court finds the defendant guilty of all the charges," the court said. "The prosecution's argument that the defendant must be permanently separated from society is valid."

The court said its sentence took into account that "Korea is effectively an abolitionist country, that there is no absolute life sentence to bridge the gap between the death penalty and life imprisonment and Supreme Court precedent."

Korea has not carried out an execution since December 1997.

Jang was charged with killing the student around 12:10 a.m. on May 5 on a deserted walkway in Wolgye-dong in Gwangju's Gwangsan District. He was also charged with attacking a second-year high school boy with a weapon after the boy ran over on hearing her screams.

The indictment included several other sex crimes. 2 days before the killing, Jang allegedly stalked and sexually assaulted a woman who worked with him at a part-time job. He was also accused of secretly filming a teenage girl's body while serving as a social service agent, an alternative to military service carried out at public institutions.

Jang admitted to all the charges in court, including murder with intent to rape, and submitted three letters of remorse.

Around the sentencing, the victim's family staged a one-person protest calling for the maximum penalty allowed by law.

The family also submitted a petition to the court demanding severe punishment that had about 100,000 signatures.

Source: koreajoongangdaily.com, Staff, October 1, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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