The current status of the Incheon elementary school student murderer, which became a major social issue 8 years ago

The murderer who kidnapped an elementary school student 8 years ago said, “I was sexually assaulted in middle school.” lost civil suit

At the sentencing hearing on this day, Judge Park Jin-young of the Incheon District Court’s Civil Division 21 ruled that Kim (25, female), the main suspect in the kidnapping and murder case of an elementary school student, lost the plaintiff’s case for damages filed against Mr. A, a man in his 60s and a former academy instructor. Judge Park ruled, “The plaintiff’s claim is dismissed,” and “the plaintiff will bear the costs of the lawsuit.” Neither Mr. Kim nor Mr. A appeared in court on this day, and Judge Park did not explain the specific reason why the plaintiff lost the case.

On March 29, 2017, Mr. Kim kidnapped and murdered second-grade elementary school student B (8 years old at the time of death) to his home in a park in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, then brutally mutilated and abandoned the body. It was found that Mr. Kim committed the crime after luring Miss A, who was playing at the playground in the park with her friend and was trying to borrow a cell phone to contact her mother. Mr. Kim, who was 17 years old and had dropped out of high school at the time, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2018 and is currently serving his sentence in prison. Park (27, female), who was indicted on murder charges along with Mr. Kim as an accomplice at the time of the incident, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found only to have aided the crime.

While imprisoned in prison in 2022, Mr. Kim filed a lawsuit against Mr. A for damages at the Incheon District Court, demanding 30 million won in alimony. He is reported to have claimed that between 2013 and 2015, when he was a middle school student, he was sexually harassed several times by Mr. A, an instructor at the academy he attended. Mr. Kim then filed a civil suit, and three months later, he filed a complaint against Mr. A to the police on charges of violating the Act on Sexual Protection of Children and Adolescents and the Child Welfare Act. However, the prosecution, which took over the case from the police, did not indict Mr. A in August 2023 with ‘no charges’, saying there was not enough evidence of sexual harassment.