A man in his 30s who was sentenced to 27 years in the first trial on charges of killing an acquaintance he lived with and dumping the body at Dumulmeori in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi, appealed the verdict.
According to legal sources, Seong, 34, who was indicted on charges including murder, filed a notice of appeal with the Seoul Northern District Court on the 29th of last month.
Prosecutors, who had earlier sought life imprisonment, also filed an appeal the same day, saying the sentence was light compared with the gravity of the crime.
On the 23rd of last month, the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced Seong to 27 years in prison and ordered 15 years of electronic location tracking.
Seong is accused of strangling to death a man in his 30s, identified only by the surname Lee, with whom he lived in an apartment in Seongbuk District, Seoul, on Jan. 14, and dumping the body at Dumulmeori on the Namhan River in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi. At the time of the crime, Seong was found to have committed the offense during a fight, including over the victim's demand for motorcycle fuel money.
Prosecutors believe Seong used the victim, who struggled with social life, as an outlet for anger and routinely assaulted and threatened the victim.