According to the legal community on the 1st, the 2nd Division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Kwon Young-jun) confirmed the lower court sentence on the 4th of last month, which sentenced Yang Gwang-jun, who was indicted on charges of murder, destruction of a corpse, and hiding a body, to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, saying, “Considering the defendant’s age and behavior, the motive and means of the crime, the outcome, and the relationship with the victim, the life sentence cannot be considered unfair.”
According to the ruling, Yang Gwang-jun killed Mr. A (33) during an argument in his vehicle parked in the military base parking lot around 3 p.m. on October 25, 2024. Afterwards, the body was mutilated and abandoned in the Bukhangang River in Hwacheon-gun the next night.
At the time, Yang Gwang-jun was working as a lieutenant colonel at the Armed Forces Cyber Operations Command in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and on the 28th of the same month, he was transferred to a unit under Songpa-gu, Seoul. Victim A was confirmed to be a fixed-term military employee who worked at the unit.
As a result of the investigation, it was revealed that the two people argued over relationship issues while carpooling on their way to work on the morning of the crime. It was found that Yang Gwang-jun, who was married, committed the crime to prevent his affair from becoming known to the outside world. On the other hand, Mr. A was unmarried.
Immediately after committing the crime, Yang Gwang-jun continued to make meticulous attempts to conceal the damage by sending messages to the victim’s family, acquaintances, and workplace from the victim’s cell phone. During the trial, he claimed, “I committed the crime accidentally due to extreme stress due to Mr. A’s threat of exposure,” but the first and second trials did not accept this.
The appellate court ruled, “It appears that the defendant prepared for a murder situation after thinking ‘he might kill’ amid repeated threats,” and concluded, “It is difficult to view it as an accidental crime due to momentary rage even at the time of the crime.” He then pointed out, “The destruction and concealment of the body is a follow-up crime that is impossible without planning.”
The court also criticized the crime, saying, “The method of the crime was so cruel that not even the slightest respect for humanity can be found, and the basic values of life and the dead were seriously damaged,” and “The bereaved families are still suffering from extreme mental pain.”
Yang Gwang-jun submitted a statement of remorse 7 times in the first trial, 136 times in the appellate trial, and 51 times in the appellate trial, but it had no effect on the sentence. A professional soldier who graduated from the Military Academy, he was dismissed from military service after the incident.
https://n.news.naver.com/article/654/0000159361