▲ Busan District Court
A man in his 20s has been sentenced to prison for subjecting peers and minor female teenagers to habitual assault, confinement, and severe abuse, including burning their bodies with a heated weapon.
Busan District Court Judge Byun Sung-hwan of Criminal Division 4 announced today (August 20) that he sentenced a 21-year-old man surnamed A, who was indicted on charges including special injury, confinement, extortion, and special assault, to four years in prison.
B, another 21-year-old indicted along with him on charges of assault and intimidation, was fined 2 million won.
According to the ruling, A and B had been living together in a residence in Busanjin-gu, Busan, starting in October 2025. Two female victims, 19-year-old C and 19-year-old D, whom they met through an acquaintance, also stayed at the house for about two weeks.
During this period, A's indiscriminate violence and extortion began.
A frequently assaulted the victims for trivial reasons, such as "not answering properly," "snoring," or "not walking correctly."
He inflicted injuries by hitting a victim's head with an empty whiskey bottle, or grabbing a victim by the hair and repeatedly slamming her into a window after accusing her of giving him a cold.
Intimidated by the assaults, the victims were coerced into opening mobile phone accounts which A then seized. While a victim was asleep, he also held a smartphone up to her face to bypass facial recognition and stole hundreds of thousands of won from her accounts.
He even forced a victim into a vehicle and drove around confining her for about 40 minutes to prevent her from escaping.
A's cruel treatment extended even to minors.
In December of the same year, displeased with the behavior of a 15-year-old female middle school student, A heated a kitchen knife with a lighter flame for dozens of seconds and pressed it against the victim's left wrist and ankle, causing severe burns.
Additionally, charges of harboring runaway youths without reporting them, habitual unlicensed driving, and evading military service—such as ignoring draft physical examination and active-duty enlistment notices—were all recognized as guilty.
B also participated in the crimes by intimidating the female victims when they demanded an apology for past beatings, telling them, "Get ready to be hit, I'll just beat you and go to prison," and slapping them.
The court stated the reasons for sentencing, noting, "The victims have not forgiven the defendants, and the defendant even disregarded his military service obligations at the time of the crimes. Even considering that he is a youthful first-time offender with no prior criminal record, severe punishment commensurate with his criminal responsibility is inevitable."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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