Incheon court gives teen 20 years in grisly murder case

The Incheon District Court on Friday sentenced the suspect who murdered an 8-year-old girl and dismembered her body to 20 years in prison, and doled out a life sentence for the accomplice. The court also said the two must wear ankle monitors for 30 years.

“Kim very carefully planned the crime,” the court said. “And Park was in a close relationship with Kim and she was her accomplice through the act.”

The suspect is a 17-year-old female student surnamed Kim. Her accomplice is an 18-year-old female student surnamed Park.

The Juvenile Act prevents anyone under 18 from receiving a life sentence or death penalty for murder or other serious crimes. The act says a minor convicted of murder can receive a sentence of up to 15 years. But Kim was sentenced to 20 years after the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes was applied to her case.

The prosecution had also charged Kim to 20 years in prison for inducing and killing a minor and destroying and abandoning the body, and to life sentence for murder. It said the murder was “carefully planned” by the two, and that they were in a romantic relationship. Kim had also told the prosecution that “Park gave me the order to kill.”

On March 29, an 8-year-old girl was found dismembered on the roof of her home in Yeonsu District, Incheon. Kim lived in the same apartment complex as the victim. Kim and Park exchanged text messages before the murder about their fascination with cadavers, the prosecution said.

On the day, Kim met the victim at a playground in the apartment complex. The victim asked Kim to use her cellphone to call her mother, after which they both proceeded to Kim’s apartment. The prosecution said Kim strangled the victim in the stairway.

Kim then dismembered the victim’s body, and Park received some parts of it. The victim’s remains were put into two plastic bags and left on the roof of an apartment building where the suspect lived.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]