Kim So-young, charged in the so-called Gangbuk motel serial murders for luring multiple men to their deaths, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a first trial.
The 14th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Judge Oh Byung-hee, sentenced Kim to life imprisonment on August 27 for murder and other charges, and ordered her to wear an electronic monitoring device for 30 years. However, she was acquitted of charges related to special injury against one of the six victims.
During the sentencing hearing, the prosecution requested the death penalty for Kim, along with a 30-year electronic monitoring order and probation.
The court dismissed Kim's claim that she only intended to make the victims sleep and did not expect them to die, concluding that there was an intent to kill.
The court noted, "Initially, it appears she did not recognize the specific risk of death, but during the process of administering drugs to several victims, she became aware of the conditions that could lead to death through resources like ChatGPT."
In a previous hearing, Kim stated, "I deeply regret giving the drugs because I was reminded of a past incident of sexual assault that made me fearful and led me to act in a way to prevent being touched." However, the court found no evidence of sexual assault in the KakaoTalk conversations and rejected her claim that she intended to temporarily incapacitate the victims to protect them from sexual violence.
Nevertheless, the court acquitted her of one count of special injury from an incident last October, noting that no drugs were detected in the victim's hair and that the victim did not taste any bitterness while drinking wine.
The court remarked, "While Kim planned all her crimes, she is justifying her actions with implausible excuses."
However, the court considered her low intelligence and her abusive and disadvantaged childhood as mitigating factors. It also explained that the death penalty is an extremely rare punishment and requires all circumstances surrounding the crime to justify such a sentence.
Following the ruling, attorney Nam Eon-ho, representing the victims' families, expressed disappointment that the court viewed Kim's awareness of the possibility of death as merely negligent rather than definitive. He indicated plans to submit a request for appeal to the prosecution.
He added, "While I acknowledge that the death penalty should only be recognized in exceptional cases, I hope the court will at least consider it declaratively in its judicial judgment."
Kim So-young was arrested in March after being charged with giving drinks laced with benzodiazepines to three men in their 20s between mid-December last year and February this year, resulting in the deaths of two and the loss of consciousness of one. In April, she faced additional charges for injuring three other men using similar methods.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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