In South Korea, mother’s murder of daughter lays bare deepening debt crisis
A mother’s 15-year prison sentence for her daughter’s murder illustrates the extreme human cost of South Korea’s spiralling household debt
The Korea Herald on Wednesday reported that Gwangju High Court upheld the woman’s conviction while imposing a heavier sentence on the accused, 60, who murdered her daughter, 33, on February 12, 2023.
The accused reportedly drugged her daughter and strangled her to death out of despair over a debt of 300 million won (US$217, 556) from the older woman’s restaurant business, with up to 60 million won under the victim’s name.
The prosecution sought a heavier sentence, arguing the initial 12-year jail time was too lenient for the crime, adding: “The young daughter had dreams and she would’ve wanted to live, even if she had debt because of her mother.”
Delivering its ruling, the high court stated: “The defendant took the life of her family for an unacceptable reason of ‘psychological pressure for the victim.’ This is unacceptable.”
