Jang Yun-gi, 23, who killed a high school girl he did not know in downtown Gwangju with a knife, admitted in court to the prosecution's charge that he committed the crime for the purpose of rape.
The 13th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jeong-ho) held the second trial on the 13th for Jang Yun-gi, who was detained and indicted on charges including violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (rape and murder) and attempted murder.
In court that day, Jang Yun-gi admitted all charges that he killed high school student Lee Chae-won, 16, for the purpose of rape.
Jang Yun-gi is accused of stabbing Lee with a knife at about 12:11 a.m. on May 5 on a road near a university in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, causing death. He also faces a charge of inflicting serious injuries by swinging a knife at high school student Go, 16, who ran over to help Lee at the time of the crime. Prosecutors indicted Jang on attempted murder, saying he tried to kill Go as well.
Prosecutors found that before the crime, Jang Yun-gi trailed Lee for about 15 minutes. Lee and Jang did not know each other.
Jang Yun-gi is also accused of breaking into the home of A, a 26-year-old foreign woman who worked at the same restaurant as him, two days before the incident, sexually assaulting her and holding her captive for about 13 hours. The indictment also includes a charge that during his service as a social service worker, he illegally filmed a woman's body.
Jang Yun-gi expressed interest in A and asked to meet her, but after being rejected, he was found to have searched for A while carrying a knife. Prosecutors determined that after failing to meet A, he chose Lee, with whom he had no relationship, as the target of the crime.
The statutory penalty for rape and murder under the law punishing sexual violence is death or life imprisonment. Ordinary murder is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for five years or more.
With Jang Yun-gi acknowledging the application of the rape-murder charge, prosecutors plan to prove the specific circumstances and degree of responsibility through evidence examination and defendant questioning.
Considering the brutality of the crime, the content of video evidence, and the need to protect the victim, the court switched the hearing to a closed session that day. It then examined evidence, including video materials submitted by prosecutors.