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Teacher in Daejeon school stabbing gets life in prison for killing 1st grader

Published: 20 Oct. 2025, 15:35

Mug shots of Myeong Jae-wan, the teacher accused of fatally stabbing a 7-year-old student at an elementary school in Daejeon in February [DAEJEON METROPOLITAN POLICE PRECINCT]

A local court on Monday sentenced a Daejeon elementary school teacher to life in prison for killing a first-grade student earlier this year.

The Daejeon District Court's Criminal Division sentenced Myeong Jae-wan to life imprisonment for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, including abduction for profit.

According to the court, Myeong lured 7-year-old Kim Ha-neul into a media room on Feb. 10 by telling the student she would give her a book.

She then fatally stabbed Kim with a knife.

Investigators said Myeong had broken a school computer with her foot and assaulted a fellow teacher several days before the murder.

The court found that the educator committed the crime to vent anger stemming from domestic conflict, regret over her return to work after leave and difficulties adjusting to her job, targeting a weaker victim in what it described as a “crime with no rational motive.”

The Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education held a disciplinary committee in April and decided to dismiss Myeong. The dismissal was finalized after she did not appeal the decision.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]