Prosecutors have appealed the life sentence given to Kim So-young, 20, in connection with the Gangbuk motel serial murders, arguing that the sentence is too lenient.
On September 2, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it filed the appeal against the first-instance ruling, citing factual errors, legal misunderstandings, and inappropriate sentencing.
On August 27, the Seoul Northern District Court's Criminal Division 14, presided over by Judge Oh Byung-hee, sentenced Kim to life imprisonment and ordered her to wear an electronic monitoring device for 30 years. During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Kim.
At the trial, Kim claimed, "I only intended to make them sleep and did not expect them to die." However, the court determined that Kim had the intent to kill, noting that she had learned through ChatGPT about the conditions under which the drugs could lead to death while administering them to multiple victims.
The court also rejected Kim's assertion that she acted out of fear from a past sexual assault, stating that evidence from KakaoTalk conversations did not support her claim that she was trying to prevent sexual assault by making the victims sleep temporarily.
While the court sentenced Kim to life imprisonment, she filed an appeal just one day after the ruling on August 28.
Kim was arrested in March after being charged with providing drinks laced with benzodiazepines to three men in their 20s, resulting in the deaths of two and one losing consciousness, between mid-December last year and February this year. In April, she faced additional charges for injuring three other men using similar methods. A total of six victims have been reported.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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