Suwon Gang Members Receive Suspended Prison Sentences for Brutally Beating Pedestrian Over Eye Contact

Former gang members and others in the Suwon area who physically assaulted a pedestrian in a group attack simply because they made eye contact on the street have received suspended prison sentences in their first trial.

The 14th Criminal Division of the Suwon District Court sentenced six individuals, including a person identified as A, who were indicted on charges of violations of the Act on the Punishment of Violences, etc., to prison terms ranging from one to two years, with three years of probation each.

The court sentenced A, who played a leading role in the assault, to two years in prison with three years of probation, and B to one year and six months in prison with three years of probation.

The remaining participants—one minor participant and three members newly identified during the investigation as belonging to the same criminal organization—were each sentenced to one year in prison with three years of probation.

A and two others were indicted on charges of dragging a man in his 20s into a building by pulling his arm after making eye contact with him while smoking in front of a building in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, at around 7:30 a.m. on June 13, 2024, and brutally beating him with fists and feet.

The victim lost consciousness during the assault and sustained severe injuries requiring six weeks of medical treatment, including a fracture of the right maxilla.

Five of the defendants, including A and B, were investigated and found to have joined and operated as active foot soldiers for the Suwon C gang, a designated criminal organization, between January 2022 and April 2023.

The court stated, "Violent criminal organizations pose a serious threat to the maintenance of social legal order and cause anxiety among law-abiding citizens, meaning their culpability is not light," adding, "The severity of the injury is also significant as they dragged the victim to a secluded place to assault him."

The court further explained, "However, in determining the sentencing, we took into consideration the facts that the defendants were merely low-level members within the criminal organization, that they have all since withdrawn from it and pledged to live diligently by making an honest living, and that they reached a smooth settlement with the victim, who does not wish for their punishment."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.