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omonatheydid
A Seoul court on Tuesday sentenced an 18-year old boy to three years and six months in prison for killing his mother, a crime he said he was driven to by the physical and mental abuse he sustained because of her obsession with his school grades.
The case came to light late last year after the boy’s father, who lived apart from his family, visited home after a year and found a bedroom door tightly sealed and his son acting suspiciously.
According to media accounts, the boy, appearing in court in school uniform, testified that his mother had beaten him with a golf club, verbally abused him and denied him meals for a period of days because she was angry with his test scores. He said he killed her out of fear that her violence could eventually kill him.
Police said the boy stabbed his mother to death in March last year, put her body in her room and left it there until it was discovered after eight months. He sealed the room to hide the smell of the body, went about his daily life and occasionally invited friends to his house.
In handing down the relatively short prison term, the court said it took into consideration that the boy had lived in a “harsh environment for a long time” and was in a “mentally vulnerable condition” at the time of the crime. The prosecutor originally sought a 15 year prison term.
“I wanted to forget what I’ve done… I didn’t have any courage to right my mistake,” the boy told the court of the reason why he neglected the body for so long.
The trial drew extra attention because it was held as part of a jury trial system that the country adopted in 2008 in which a jury hears a case and gives out a non-binding verdict.
The case, while isolated and extreme, highlights the pressures both children and parents are under because of the importance of academic grades in Korea.
Research done in December 2010 by Statistics Korea on high school third graders showed that 69% said academic performance was the biggest concern in their lives, followed by appearance (7%) and future employment (7%). The biggest reason for disputes between parents and students was the child’s future career (46%), followed by academic performance (38%).
Source: Korea Real Time
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Date: 2012-03-23 10:26 am (UTC)All of this is wrong.
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Date: 2012-03-23 10:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 10:28 am (UTC)I hope he's getting some serious mental help since after 3 short years he's probably free again
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Date: 2012-03-23 11:53 am (UTC)i really hope he gets the psychological help he needs. i wonder how the father feels.
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Date: 2012-03-23 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 12:36 pm (UTC)Wow.
It's horrible and sad that he had to resort to killing his mother because of all the stress and abuse.
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Date: 2012-03-23 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 01:29 pm (UTC)I think Korea also needs to look at the education culture. Its kind of crazy how these kids are forced to study so much. Studying is good but just STUDYING? My friend who tutored like 6&7 year olds at an academy said that these kiddies stay up past 12 to finish their homework. What was I doing at age 7? sleeping, playing, and studying. These kids do more work than I do NOW as a college student.
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Date: 2012-03-23 03:58 pm (UTC)i hope he gets help and can lead a better life eventually~
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Date: 2012-03-23 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-03-23 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 06:03 pm (UTC)instead of a physician. The mother nagged him and said he shame the family. Then again this one has mental illness. [schizophrenic]
Also obesity is on rise in china because education is so enforced and physical exercise is put aside.
So, there's a huge problem with asian parents focusing so much on making the child succeed that they forget that
the child is a human being with feelings. Thus situations like this come out.
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Date: 2012-03-24 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-24 01:58 am (UTC)Maybe the 3 years will give him time to mentally stabilize, and deal with his emotional problems before he returns to society though.
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Date: 2012-03-24 09:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-24 04:21 pm (UTC)