Appeal filed Wednesday, the deadline; prosecution, which sought death penalty, appealed Friday

Jang Yun-gi, convicted of killing a high school girl, is escorted to the Gwangju District Court in Dong-gu, Gwangju, on Sept. 30 to receive his first-instance sentence. [Newsis]
Jang Yun-gi, convicted of killing a high school girl, is escorted to the Gwangju District Court in Dong-gu, Gwangju, on Sept. 30 to receive his first-instance sentence. [Newsis]

Jang Yun-gi, 23, who kidnapped and killed a high school girl on the street with the intent to sexually assault her, has appealed his first-instance life sentence.

Jang filed the appeal Wednesday with the 13th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Jeong-ho.

Although Jang admitted to all charges during the trial, he rejected the sentence and submitted his appeal Wednesday, the filing deadline.

The prosecution, which had sought the death penalty, also filed its own appeal on Friday.

The first-instance court sentenced Jang to life in prison on charges including rape-murder under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. The court also ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring anklet and barred him from working at institutions serving children, adolescents and people with disabilities for 10 years.

Among the multiple charges brought against Jang, rape-murder carries only two possible penalties under the law: death or life imprisonment.

The court said it considered Jang a person who "must be permanently separated from society," but noted that South Korea is effectively an abolitionist state on capital punishment and lacks an absolute life sentence without the possibility of parole to bridge the gap between death and ordinary life imprisonment. "The only way to offer even a measure of comfort to the victim and her bereaved family is to ensure that Jang is never granted parole and that his life sentence is carried out in full," the court stated in its written ruling.

In the early hours of May 5, at around 12:10 a.m., Jang abducted Lee Chae-won — then 16 and a second-year high school student — as she was walking home on a street in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, using his vehicle. When his attempt to sexually assault her failed, he killed her. He also attacked a male second-year high school student who came running after hearing her screams.

Jang also faces charges of stalking and raping a female co-worker two days before the killing, as well as secretly filming the bodies of teenage girls while serving as a social service worker.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com