The South Korean court confirmed its verdict to order the man convicted of “Gangnam murder case” to pay 500 million KRW to the victim’s family as compensation.
In May 2016, the 35-year-old man, who is identified by his surname Kim, was convicted of murdering 23-year-old victim at a public restroom near Gangnam Station in Seoul, Korea. Kim was now serving a 30-year term in prison.
On August 22, the Suwon District Court ruled in favor of the victim’s family who filed the lawsuit against Kim. The victim’s family asked Korea Legal Aid Corp. for a help filing the suit on April 7, which was six days before the Supreme Court’s ruling on the case.
On May 11, Legal Aid Corp.’s Seongnam branch filed a 499 million-KRW suit against Kim. The amount includes 370 million-KRW of possible earning the victim could have earned if she worked until age 60, 200 million-KRW of compensation for the mental distress, and the funeral expense.
Kim is to pay extra 15% of late payment fee every year if he fails to make the payment on time.
On May 17, 2016, Kim stabbed the victim to death at a public restroom located near Gangnam Station Exit 10. As he allegedly waited for about 50 minutes targeting women in general, many voiced that the case was a hate crime against women. The case also triggered women rights activists to stand up against misogyny and fostered feminism conversation.
Police, however, denied the misogynist nature of the crime, taking into consideration that Kim has been hospitalized for schizophrenia several times.
Original article by Kim Min-wook
