On the 5th, memorial flowers were placed at the underground walkway near Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul, where a cleaner in his 60s was stabbed to death on the 2nd. Yonhap News. 

A 25-year prison sentence has been confirmed for a Chinese-Korean man in his 70s who murdered a cleaner in an underground walkway near Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul.

According to the legal community on the 1st, the Second Division of the Supreme Court (Justice Oh Kyung-mi presiding) upheld the lower court's ruling on the 4th of last month, sentencing the defendant, surnamed Li, who was charged with murder and other crimes, to 25 years in prison. Li was also ordered to wear an electronic tracking device for 20 years.

Li was indicted on charges of stabbing a victim in his 60s, a cleaner employed by a Jung-gu service company, multiple times with a weapon in an underground walkway near Sungnyemun Gate at approximately 4:00 a.m. on August 2 last year.

Investigations revealed that Li attacked the victim with a weapon he habitually carried after feeling ignored when the victim refused his request for water and threatened to report him for grabbing the victim's arm.

In February, the first trial sentenced Li to 25 years in prison and 20 years of electronic monitoring. At the time, the court explained that the sentence was determined by considering the motive and brutality of the crime, the gravity of the offense, the bereaved family's petition for a severe punishment, as well as the defendant's age, character, and the circumstances surrounding the trial.

In June, the appellate court also dismissed the appeals filed by both the prosecution and Li, stating, "Although the defendant denied intent to murder in the initial trial but admitted to all charges in this court, such a change in attitude is not considered a significant enough change in circumstances to warrant a modification of the original sentence."

Li appealed once more, but the Supreme Court found no errors in the lower court's judgment and dismissed the appeal.

Yonhap News