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Incheon
Zenith Foreign
the 8th Language
High School

A Murder

by Teenagers

A few months ago, a murder case shocked the whole country. Every-
one talked about the case, and every medium from the newspaper
to TV and the Internet covered the story. What made the whole coun-
try tune into this murder case especially was the fact that it was com-

mitted by two teenage girls, and the victim was a little girl.
Last March, an 8-year-old girl was playing in the playground in her
apartment complex. She wanted to call her mom and asked a
teenage girl to let her use her cell phone. The teenage girl, Kim, lured
the little girl to her apartment, murdered her by strangling her with a
cable, cut her finger off, and hid the rest of the body on the roof top.
Kim and her friend Park talked about the murder through SNS, met,

and had lunch, carrying the cut off finger with them. The police ar-
rested Kim and Park and charged them with murder, mutilation, and
abandonment of a body.
Kim, a high school dropout, who had actually committed the murder
was only 16 years old at that time, and her accomplice was 18 years
old. The prosecutor in charge asked for 20 years in prison for Kim
and life imprisonment for Park, which is the maximum the law allows.
That was when the public got furious. The one who lured and killed
an innocent girl can get away with only 20 years in prison just be-

cause she is under the age of 18 and is protected by juvenile law.
The way she mutilated the body was one thing but she showed no
remorse, either. Even after they were arrested, they were both seen
smiling and humming.
On the day when the prosecutor proposed the sentences, the inter-
net at the Blue House was overwhelmed with protests from angry
citizens asking for the abolishment of the juvenile law. Under juvenile

law, teenagers can get a mild punishment, even if they commit a se-
rious crime such as a murder; and those who are under 12 can’t
even be punished. Juvenile law-should it remain or be abolished?

Jun, Jean (1-8)
1213jean@naver.com

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