'Dumulmeori Murder': 27 Years in First Trial... Prosecutors Appeal "Sentence Unduly Lenient"

Prosecutors Had Sought Life Imprisonment at First Trial's Sentencing Hearing

Prosecutors have appealed the court's decision to sentence a man in his 30s to 27 years in prison after he was tried on charges of murdering a cohabitant and abandoning the body near the Namhan River in the Dumulmeori area of Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province.

On July 29, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had appealed the first trial verdict for Seong (age 35), who was indicted on charges of murder and abandoning a corpse, citing the inadequacy of the sentence. The prosecution had previously requested a life sentence during the final arguments in this case.

The exterior of Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office in Dobong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News.

Earlier, on July 23, the 14th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced Seong to 27 years in prison and ordered him to wear an electronic location tracking device for 15 years. At the time, the court stated that "there was sufficient motive to kill the victim, and the act of strangling a victim in poor health made the possibility of death fully foreseeable," concluding that there was conditional intent to murder. Additionally, the court reflected in the sentencing that Seong attempted to conceal the crime after abandoning the body by sending a text message to the victim's mother pretending to be the victim, and by deleting records of calls and conversations on the victim's mobile phone.

Seong was put on trial on charges of assaulting and strangling to death a cohabitant at his home in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, in January of this year, then loading the body into a rental car and abandoning it along the Namhan River near Dumulmeori in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province. The victim's body was not discovered until July 1, and the bereaved family was able to hold the funeral approximately half a year after the incident occurred.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.