It appears that fallout from the Jo Du-sun/Na-yeong case may be influencing judges to issue more life sentences to those who sexually assault children. One judge in Seoul just did so.

On the 11th Judge Kim Hyeon-mi of the Seoul Western District Courts 11th Division sentenced to life imprisonment 40-year old Mr. Yun, indicted for sexually assaulting a 10-year old girl after being released from prison following a 15-year sentence.

In the ruling the judge wrote, “previously the defendant had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attempted murder of a 10-year old girl and the sexual assault of an unconscious woman, causing her injury. After his release from prison he again sexually assaulted a female child, showing the depravity of his offense.”

Explaining the reasons for the sentence the judge wrote, “the court considers that the defendant committed not only sexual assault but also robbed and injured a woman, and cannot avoid concluding that the defendant must be isolated to protect society.”

Mr. Yun was indicted for sexually assaulting 10-year old A, a friend of his nephew, in a public park in Eunpyeong-gu on last August 11th, and at the end of March of this year used a weapon to rob 42-year old Ms. B while she was hiking in Eunpyeong-gu and inflicting an injury on her that required one month to heal.

Mr. Yun was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder and other charges and was released at the end of last January, and committed his new crimes within just two months.

In a Suwon case prosecutors have asked the judge for a life sentence and are asserting that the defendant’s use of alcohol prior to the crime is irrelevant.

On the 11th Suwon prosecutor Ahn Jong-oh requested the court to give a life sentence to 31-year-old Mr. Yun, indicted on charges of sexually assaulting and injuring a young girl.

Mr. Ahn also requested the court to order the defendant be subjected to electronic monitoring for ten years.

Mr. Ahn said, “although the defendant claims to have been drunken, the evidence does not reach the level of an impaired ability to control himself (심신미약)… When a person is aware of his inability to act normally when intoxicated but still drinks and then commits a crime,  serious sentence is called for as a message to society.”

Mr. Yun’s sentence is set to be pronounced on the 2nd of next month.

According to article nine of the law on the punishment of sex offenders, when a girl under the age of 13 is injured or cuased to be injured the sentence may range from seven years to life.

The similar “Jo Du-sun Case” led to much criticism when a man indicted for rape was sentenced to 12 years in prison in consideration of his intoxicated state.

Mr. Yun was arrested and indicted on charges of sexually assaulting 8-year-old A in a bathroom near a church playground in Suwon.

Mr. Yun is also suspected of sexually assaulting a grandmother in her 60s while she was leaving the restaurant where she worked at last January and of sexually assaulting his landlord’s daughter, who is in her 30s, last September.

Mr. Yun admitted guilt but argued there were extenuating circumstances, saying, “in the past I have been treated for alcohol dependance and mental illness, and committed the crimes after drinking.”

Mr. Yun requested a jury trial on the 5th of last month but withdrew the request after the Jo Du-sun Case caused such controversy.

Judge Choi Jae-hyeok, in charge of this case, has decided to close the hearings to the public in order to protect the victim.