Mother sentenced to eight years in prison for ”baby's body in refrigerator” - South Korean Supreme Court

Defendant Ko, the mother involved in the so-called "Suwon Refrigerator Baby Body Case," who killed her two newborns shortly after giving birth and stored their bodies in a refrigerator for financial reasons, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
The South Korean Supreme Court announced on the 8th that it had rejected the appeal of defendant Ko, a man in his 30s who was indicted on charges of murder and concealing the body.
Defendant Ko, who married in 2012 and raised three children, was arrested in 2018 and 2019.
They were indicted on charges of giving birth to a daughter and a son at the hospital, and strangling them to death in an alleyway near their home and the hospital immediately after being discharged. After the murders, Ko put the bodies of her children in black plastic bags and killed herself.
The body parts were stored in the refrigerator at the home. This was discovered during a police search of the home in June last year. The issue at issue in this case was whether the defendant's act constituted the crime of infanticide, not ordinary murder.
The defendant argued that the crime was infanticide, stating that the crime was committed while in an abnormal psychological state following childbirth, but the court did not accept this.
Both the first and second trials found Ko guilty of all charges and sentenced him to eight years in prison. The first trial court said, "The defendant is not a primiparous woman, but a multiparous woman, and she did not seek medical help.
The court ruled that "29 hours had passed between the murders and the women were able to carry out their normal activities during that time and were free from the effects of childbirth."
The defendant's claim of mental impairment was not acknowledged. The trial court found that "depression and perinatal depression (a mood disorder that occurs during pregnancy or in the first year after childbirth)
Even if there was, this was due solely to economic and childcare issues, and the birth process did not cause an abnormal psychological state."
However, in relation to the sentence, the court stated, "If you are raising three children and a newborn in a life of little means, you may not even be able to raise three children properly.
The Supreme Court explained, "We took into consideration the fact that the thought of not being able to conceal the body influenced the crime, and that it was a first offense."
The court upheld the original ruling, stating that there was no mistake that had an impact on the victim's life. Meanwhile, a revised penal code that deleted the clause on infanticide came into effect on February 9 this year. This means that in future, infanticide charges will no longer be allowed in similar cases.
It is unlikely that the issue of whether the crime of assault will apply will be an issue.