A man in his 40s accused of killing his girlfriend and abandoning the body in a kimchi refrigerator was sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to legal sources on the 11th, prosecutors sought life imprisonment at the sentencing hearing for A, 41, on charges of murder and abandoning a body, held before the Criminal Division 1 of the Gunsan Branch of the Jeonju District Court (Chief Judge Baek Sang-bin), saying, "Murder, which takes a precious human life, is a grave crime that cannot be tolerated."
The prosecutor said, "The defendant betrayed the victim, with whom trust had been built over a long period, brutally killed the victim, and then abandoned the body to conceal the crime," and added, "It appears the victim ended life in excruciating pain, yet it is doubtful whether the defendant is truly remorseful."
A is accused of strangling his girlfriend B, with whom he had dated for four years, to death at a low-rise apartment in Jochon-dong, Gunsan, on Oct. 20 last year, putting the body in a bag, and abandoning it in a kimchi refrigerator for about a year. He also allegedly took out a loan of about 88 million won in the name of the deceased B and used it for living expenses.
After the crime, A used the deceased's cellphone to exchange messages with B's family and others, making it appear as if B were alive. B's younger sister found it suspicious that her older sister contacted only by messenger instead of by phone and filed a missing-person suspicion report with police in September.
Afterward, when a police officer contacted B's cellphone, A told another woman he was living with to answer in her place, but after repeated questioning by police, the woman confessed, "I am not B," exposing the crime 11 months later.
In a final statement, A bowed his head and said, "I am deeply sorry for causing indelible wounds and pain to the victim and the bereaved family with my foolish actions," adding, "I will never forget, and I will live in repentance and atonement for the rest of my life." A's sentencing hearing will be held on Jan. 29 next year.