Supreme Court Justice Nominee Criticized for Drastic Sentence Reductions in Child Sex Abuse and Dating Violence Cases

A man who committed a sexual crime against a 13-year-old middle school student.

Even though the victim did not want punishment, the first instance court ruled that a prison sentence was still necessary and sentenced him to three years in prison.

However, the second instance court was different.

Citing the same fact that the victim did not want punishment, it reduced the sentence to three years in prison with four years of probation.

The presiding judge at the time was Supreme Court justice nominee Kim Sung-soo.

It has been confirmed that nominee Kim repeatedly handed down sentence reductions in past cases involving sex crimes against minors and dating violence.

In 2022, for a man sentenced to seven years in prison on charges including distributing sexual exploitation materials of a minor, he reduced the sentence to five years in prison, citing points such as "he admits to the crime and is reflecting" and "he has no prior record of criminal punishment."

This was a case where the first instance court judged that a heavy sentence was inevitable because, although he reached a settlement with some victims, the culpability was heavy.

Notable reasons for sentence reductions also appear in dating violence cases.

A man who went to his ex-lover's home, and when rejected, stabbed her in the abdomen with a weapon.

He received a prison sentence in the first instance, but the appeals court, presided over by nominee Kim, reduced the sentence to three years in prison with four years of probation, citing reasons such as reaching a settlement with the victim and that "minor children are waiting for him."

For a man who assaulted his lover multiple times, causing her death, the sentence was also reduced from six years in prison to three years in prison with five years of probation by taking into consideration factors such as reaching a settlement with the bereaved family and having asked someone to call 119 while performing first aid immediately after the crime.

A sentence reduction was also issued in a stalking case that took place last year.

An active-duty soldier who made calls to a woman with caller ID blocking for 10 months.

Nominee Kim's panel pointed out that "he makes excuses, does not reflect, and has not been forgiven by the victim."

Nevertheless, citing points such as "he has served in the military relatively faithfully," they lowered the fine of 3 million KRW sentenced in the first instance to 900,000 KRW.

Public officials can lose their positions if a fine of 1 million KRW or more is finalized for a sex crime.

Nominee Kim's side stated that they have maintained the stance that "the person who can forgive the defendant is not a judge, but solely the victim," and explained that sentences have been determined by comprehensively considering various sentencing factors, including the victim's intent and changes in circumstances during the appeals trial.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-sun | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.