”I appealed for life imprisonment...” Man in his 20s who stabbed his girlfriend 191 times to death receives 23-year prison sentence - South Korea

A man in his 20s who brutally murdered his girlfriend, who had promised to marry him, by stabbing her nearly 200 times with a deadly weapon has been sentenced to 23 years in prison, with both him and the prosecution abandoning their appeal. The victim's family said, "Life without parole is a terrible thing.
According to the Korean legal profession on the 25th, the defendant Ryu (28), who was indicted on charges of murder, was sentenced to 23 years in prison on the 17th of this month, and he was asked to resign by the 24th, the deadline for appeal.
The prosecution, which had sought a 25-year prison sentence, also did not appeal.
Defendant Ryu was arrested at an apartment in Gangwon Province at around 12:47 p.m. on July 24 last year.
Ryu was on trial for allegedly stabbing Jeong Hye-ju (aged 24 at the time of her death) 191 times with a deadly weapon. The defendant and Jeong were engaged to be married.
Six minutes later, Ryu reported the incident to the police, saying, "I killed my girlfriend" and "I stabbed her repeatedly."
Ryu's motive for the crime has yet to be clearly revealed despite the investigation and trial. During the investigation, Ryu said he was involved in a dispute with a neighbor over noise pollution.
The crime was committed under stress, or the victim was in a financially difficult situation due to an upcoming wedding and suddenly thought, "I might be able to release the pain by killing my lover."
He claimed that he acted instantly. However, in the first trial, he changed his argument and said, "I heard the victim say, 'Are you mentally ill?' and I became enraged and committed the crime."
The first trial found it difficult to understand why Ryu killed the victim to relieve stress caused by noise pollution and financial difficulties.
The court concluded that Ryu committed the crime accidentally after hearing the victim say, "Are you mentally ill?" and that the prosecution paid the bereaved family relief money to the family as compensation.
Taking into consideration the circumstances of the defendant's death, the court handed down a sentence of 17 years in prison. However, the appeals court found it difficult to determine the motive for the murder.
Not only does he rarely express difficult situations, but he also appears to have a personality trait of becoming overly nervous and anxious in difficult situations," the report said. "Right before the crime, he found himself in an unbearable predicament.
"There is room to conclude that the defendant had extreme thoughts such as, 'I want to kill you,' and that this led him to commit this crime," he said. "The crime was extremely brutal, and considering all the circumstances and motives that led the defendant to commit the crime,
"However, it is hard to accept that he would have brutally murdered the victim, to whom he had promised to marry her," he said, adding, "The defendant is likely suffering from his own actions and their consequences, but this is nothing compared to the pain felt by the victim's family.
"It is difficult to believe that he has sincerely apologized to the bereaved family," he said, handing down a heavier sentence of 23 years in prison than the first trial. The first and second trials rejected the prosecutor's request to have the victim fitted with an electronic ankle band (a location tracking device).