Supreme Court confirms death sentence for pedophile murderer

SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's
decision to hand down the death sentence to a man convicted of killing two
schoolgirls and a woman in 2007.
Jeong Seong-hyeon, 40, approached Wu Ye-seul and Lee Hye-jin, who were nine and
11 at the time, while they were on their way home in December 2007 with the
intent to rape them. After failing, Jeong killed the girls and discarded their
bodies.
The case took a more disturbing twist after it was revealed that Jeong was in
fact the neighbor of the two girls' families. He was arrested in March last year
after dismembered parts of the girls' bodies were found buried on remote hills.
Jeong also confessed to killing another woman in her 40s and burying the body
near his residence in 2004.
"The crimes by Jeong deserve the highest penalty under the law because we need to
take preventive measures to make sure that no crimes against children recur in
the future," said a local court in June.
"The innocent victims were killed without knowing what was going on. We have no
pity for him, considering the surviving families who suffer from the loss."
Jeong will be the country's 59th inmate on the death row. No execution has been
carried out, however, for over 10 years since former President Kim Young-sam
executed 23 criminals before leaving office in 1997.
brk@yna.co.kr
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