Murder Followed by Mutilation of the Body... Disposed of in the Bukhan River
Claimed the Crime Was Impulsive, but Court Did Not Accept the Argument
Yang Kwangjun, a former military officer who murdered a female civilian military employee with whom he was having an affair, mutilated her body, and disposed of it in the Bukhan River, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to the legal community on January 1, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Youngjun) recently upheld the lower court's ruling, rejecting Yang Kwangjun's appeal and confirming his conviction for murder, destruction of a corpse, and concealment of a corpse.
Yang Kwangjun was charged with strangling Ms. A (33) to death during an argument in his car at the unit's parking lot around 3 p.m. on October 25, 2024, mutilating her body, and then disposing of it in the Bukhan River in Hwacheon County, Gangwon Province the following night. He was a lieutenant colonel (designate) at the Cyber Operations Command of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, while Ms. A was a contract civilian military employee who had worked at the same unit. Yang Kwangjun was transferred to a subordinate unit in Songpa District, Seoul, on October 28 of the same year.
On the morning of the crime, Yang Kwangjun and Ms. A, who were in a romantic relationship, carpooled to work and began arguing during the ride. He committed the crime to prevent their relationship from being exposed. While Yang Kwangjun was married, Ms. A was single. After the crime, Yang Kwangjun sent text messages from the victim's phone to her family, acquaintances, and workplace in an attempt to conceal the murder, demonstrating a high level of premeditation.
Yang Kwangjun claimed that he acted impulsively under stress from Ms. A's threats to reveal their affair, but both the first and second trial courts rejected this argument. While Yang Kwangjun submitted seven letters of reflection during the first trial, he submitted 136 in the appeals trial and 51 in the Supreme Court, but these efforts did not reduce his sentence. After graduating from the Korea Military Academy and serving as a career military officer, Yang Kwangjun was dismissed from the military following this incident.
The appellate court stated, "The defendant, after being repeatedly threatened with exposure of the affair, fell into despair and appears to have considered the possibility of killing the victim, preparing for such an event. Given the circumstances at the time, it is difficult to see the murder as an impulsive act committed out of momentary panic or rage." The court added, "The destruction and concealment of the corpse were, by their nature, deliberate and could never be considered impulsive follow-up actions. The victim's family continues to suffer severe psychological trauma after learning of the crime."
The Supreme Court ruled, "Considering the defendant's age, character, environment, relationship with the victim, motives, methods, and consequences of the crime, the lower court's sentence of life imprisonment cannot be considered unjust," and dismissed Yang Kwangjun's appeal.
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