Last year, a man in his 30s who killed a neighbor by wielding a Japanese sword in an apartment complex in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial.
On the 7th, the 12th Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Court (Chief Judge Kwon Seong-su) sentenced Baek Mo (38), who was charged with murder and other offenses, to life imprisonment. Additionally, he was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device for 20 years, and was imposed with compliance conditions including not approaching the bereaved family by any means and regularly receiving psychiatric treatment.
The court stated, "Considering the motive, content, and brutality of the crime, even taking into account the defendant's mental state, the nature of the crime is extremely serious and the responsibility is heavy," and judged that "there is a need to indefinitely isolate him from society and deprive him of his freedom."
The court also noted that although Baek was judged to have been in a delusional disorder state at the time of the crime based on a psychiatric evaluation, it would not reduce the sentence on the grounds of diminished mental capacity.
Baek is accused of repeatedly wielding a decorative sword, which was permitted for ornamental use with a blade length of about 75 cm and an overall length of about 102 cm, at a male neighbor in his 40s in an apartment complex in Eunpyeong-gu at around 11:22 p.m. on July 29 last year, causing his death.
It was revealed that since around October 2023, Baek had fallen into the delusion that "Chinese spies were planning to start a war against the Republic of Korea," and he committed the crime believing that the victim, whom he often encountered in the same apartment complex, was a Chinese spy stalking and surveilling him.
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