Teenager who copied ”weapon brandishing case” receives reduced sentence in second trial = South Korea

A teenager who brandished a weapon at a junior high school girl on the street in imitation of the Sillim-dong weapon-brandishing incident had his sentence reduced in the second trial.
According to the Korean legal community on the 17th, the Seoul High Court is trying him on charges of attempted murder.
In the appeal trial of Mr. A (17), who committed the crime, the court sentenced him to five years in prison and three years in prison. This was reduced from the six-year prison term and four-year term sentence given in the first trial.
A's release date will be decided. A is accused of following two middle school girls near a park in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the evening of October 1 last year and attempting to kill them by stabbing them with a deadly weapon.
The prosecution determined that Mr. A abandoned the crime the moment he was about to stab one of the victims. Mr. A, who lived in Changwon, Gyeongnam, had the murder weapon and a blunt object in his possession and was driving a bus to the scene.
He traveled to Seoul by train and headed to Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, when he happened to follow a middle school girl who caught his eye.
A is inmate Cho Song (34), who was involved in a weapon-wielding incident in Sillim-dong on July 21 last year, resulting in four deaths and injuries.
The investigation revealed that A felt a sense of familiarity after watching the video of the crime and decided to kill someone. A, who suffered from mental illness, considered himself a failure like the villain "Joker" in the movie "Batman."
The prosecution determined that A had been thinking about how he was strong and cool when he saw Cho commit the crime, but was delighted by it. A was reported to have been addicted to violent computer games.
At the first trial, Mr. A stated, "The attempted murder charge seemed cool, and because I was a minor, I thought I would be released quickly. I thought I would brag about it to my friends if I was released."
The court said, "Mr. A chose a 15-year-old victim he did not know as his target and attempted to stab her with a knife in a deserted park, but failed."
"Considering the motive, circumstances, content, and danger of the crime, the crime is extremely serious," the court ruled. However, the court also stated, "Mr. A stopped the crime of his own volition and it ended in an attempted crime," and "He is currently 17 years old.
"He is a minor who is socially and mentally immature and suffers from depression and other mental difficulties, and there is room for his behavior to improve with proper education and treatment in the future."
The court also ruled that the first-instance sentence was too heavy, stating that "A's parents are also determined to properly educate him and make efforts toward his treatment and education."