(Graphic by Park Ji-young/The Korea Herald)
(Graphic by Park Ji-young/The Korea Herald)

The Ulsan District Court said Sunday it has sentenced a man in his 40s to four years and six months in prison for stabbing his mother in February.

The defendant stabbed the victim in her stomach after an argument at their home in Ulsan. The victim put off going to a hospital to hide her son's crime, but was ultimately treated by emergency operators after her condition worsened.

The feud between the defendant and the victim in her 60s was over a real estate investment gone wrong nine years prior. The defendant had entrusted 200 million won ($142,900) of his savings to an investment opportunity introduced by his mother, but it turned out to be a scam.

The defendant then developed a gambling addiction, which he blamed on his mother. He was fired in 2024 for his gambling habits and also had assaulted his mother when intoxicated.

The court found the defendant guilty of attempted killing of an ascendant. He was handed a relatively lenient punishment due to it being an unplanned crime, his not inflicting additional damages after the initial attack and his admitting to the charges.

The court did not accept the defendant's claim that he was in a mentally feeble state at the time of the attack.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com