Gwangju Court Imposes Life Sentence in Murder of High School Student

A South Korean court sentenced a 23-year-old man to life imprisonment on Wednesday for the rape-murder of a female high school student in Gwangju, bringing a first-instance judgment in a case that has drawn intense scrutiny over the violence and the handling of the investigation.

The Gwangju District Court found Jang Yoon-gi guilty of rape-murder and other offenses connected to the killing of 16-year-old Lee Chae-won. The court also ordered him to wear an electronic tracking device and barred him from working at institutions serving children, adolescents and people with disabilities for 10 years if he is released.

According to the case presented to the court, Jang killed Lee on a street in Gwangju on May 5 after an attempt to abduct her with the intent to commit rape failed. Gwangju is about 270 kilometers southwest of Seoul.

Jang was also charged with attempting to kill a 17-year-old male student who came to help Lee at the scene. Other charges included the rape of a Vietnamese woman two days before the killing and the illegal filming of a teenage girl in an earlier incident.

Prosecutors had asked the court to impose the death penalty, arguing that Jang should be permanently isolated from society. The court said it accepted the prosecution’s position that permanent separation was warranted but imposed life imprisonment instead. It found him guilty on all charges.

The sentencing follows a prosecution in which the sexual motive became central to the charge. Jang had initially denied that the killing was premeditated, but his lawyer later acknowledged the charges, including that he acted with the intent to commit sexual assault. Prosecutors ultimately pursued the more serious rape-murder charge rather than a simple murder charge.

The ruling is a trial-court decision and may be appealed. The court’s additional orders are intended to restrict Jang’s contact with vulnerable groups and permit monitoring in the event that he is ever released.

The case has also prompted separate questions about whether the initial police investigation adequately preserved evidence and identified the nature of the crime. Those issues are distinct from Wednesday’s verdict, which addressed Jang’s criminal responsibility for the killing, the attempted killing and the sexual offenses before the court.