An Adopted Child Called "Meoseum" in an Island Village Killed His Foster Father with Just "One Word"

Adopted at 11, Unable to Attend School and Forced to Work
Court: "Signs of Exploitation but Premeditated Murder"

A man in his 50s who was enraged after being called a 'black-headed beast' by his adoptive father, who had taken him in as an orphan, and killed him, was sentenced to a heavy punishment again in the appellate court.

On the 15th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Park Hye-seon) announced that it dismissed the appeal of Mr. A (59), who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the first trial on charges of murder, and upheld the original verdict.

Mr. A was abandoned by his biological parents at birth and raised in an orphanage until he was adopted by his adoptive father, Mr. B, at the age of 11. Mr. A, along with other orphans, was adopted and found a new home on an island village in Yeosu-si, Jeollanam-do. The adopted children, including Mr. A, lived in Mr. B’s house, raising cattle, working the fields, or doing boat work from a young age to help with the labor shortage.

The villagers called Mr. A a 'meoseum' (farmhand) because he did various jobs like a worker even at a young age. Mr. A was unable to attend school and was only able to register as a resident when he became an adult. While watching Mr. B’s biological children attend school unlike himself, he resented his adoptive father but on the other hand worked even harder to be recognized as a son by Mr. B.

At the age of 17, Mr. A started working as a crew member on a ship where Mr. B was the captain, and even after marrying and becoming independent at 26, he continued to help his adoptive father’s work. In 2021, while working on the ship, Mr. A suffered an accident where his arm was caught in a fishing net machine, resulting in the amputation of his right arm. This caused post-traumatic stress disorder, and his resentment toward his father, which had built up since childhood, grew even stronger.

Although Mr. A improved his economic life after becoming independent and self-made, owning a ship worth about 700 million won, his emotional wounds remained. In February last year, after drinking alcohol, he went to see his adoptive father carrying a weapon. Using the courage from alcohol, Mr. A confronted him, saying, "What have you done for me, Father?" and "You promised to give me a ship, a house, and land 20 years ago, so why haven’t you?"

When Mr. B responded to Mr. A’s drunken rant with, "They say you don’t take in black-headed beasts..." Mr. A flew into a rage and wielded the weapon, killing his adoptive father. During the investigation, he stated, "I was usually angry when he called me an 'orphan,' but I couldn’t tolerate being called a 'beast' by my father." Mr. A also claimed diminished mental capacity, saying he was undergoing psychiatric medication treatment after the arm amputation accident, but both the first and second trial courts rejected this claim. Although Mr. A was intoxicated at the time of the crime, he had a normal conversation with Mr. B for about 30 minutes before committing the crime.

The appellate court stated, "Although there are mitigating circumstances such as suspicion of abuse or exploitation by the adoptive father, there is no reason to change the original verdict, which sentenced him to a heavy punishment for premeditated murder."