Military prosecutors have sought a life sentence for an army noncommissioned officer accused of causing his wife's death by neglecting her for so long that maggots covered her body.
At the final hearing held Wednesday afternoon at the Second Regional Military Court, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Kim, an army NCO indicted on murder charges, to life imprisonment.
"The victim lived in a seated position for a prolonged period, remaining in a state where she depended solely on the defendant for survival," prosecutors said. "A psychologically subordinate relationship persisted, with control over the relationship completely transferred to the defendant."
They added, "This is an unprecedented case that demonstrates how murder by omission can inflict far more horrific and greater suffering than murder by commission."
During the trial, Kim denied the charges, claiming he "did not know his wife was sick," that he "sprayed a diffuser and could not smell anything," and that "there was only the smell of stagnant water."
Military prosecutors countered that Kim could not have been unaware of the victim's condition, as he brought her food daily and replaced bedding soiled with feces. Citing statements from paramedics and an emergency room doctor, they argued that "his claim of not noticing the stench lacks credibility."
Prosecutors pointed out that while Kim received hospital treatment eight times last year when he himself was ill and regularly took his pet dog to the veterinary clinic, he did not arrange for his bedridden wife to receive any medical care. They also criticized Kim for "worrying first about his own punishment," noting that immediately after the victim was transported to the hospital, his internet search history included terms such as "mental illness neglect," "penalty for neglecting solitary death," and "sentencing for corpse abandonment."
◇ Forensic Expert Yoo Seong-ho Stunned… "Second Most Shocking Case Among 3,000-Plus Autopsies" = Kim was indicted last November for causing the death of his wife, who was in a semi-conscious state, by neglecting her for an extended period at their home in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Investigations found that the victim had been unable to move since March last year due to panic disorder and depression, but received no proper treatment or protective care for approximately eight months.
The horror of the case was also revealed through testimony from experts and first responders. When a 119 rescue team arrived on the scene last November, the victim's entire body was contaminated with filth and covered by tens of thousands of maggots.
Regarding the case, Yoo Seong-ho, a forensic medicine professor at Seoul National University and commissioned medical examiner for the National Forensic Service, recently said on his YouTube channel "Yoo Seong-ho's DeMenTalk" that it was "the second most shocking case I have encountered while performing more than 3,000 autopsies over the past 20 years."
Professor Yoo, who said he had seen photographs of the victim with spreading maggots and skin necrosis, said, "How fatally and for how long she must have been neglected — of course, the woman (the NCO's wife) did have underlying conditions such as depression, but even so, this is extremely rare." He added, "There was someone living with her. How could that person not know that her body was necrotizing and infested with maggots? This goes beyond neglect to abandonment. I think prosecutors indicted him because they sensed willful negligence — a feeling of 'wouldn't it be fine if she died?'"
Professor Yoo also stressed, "Just because (the victim) had a mental illness, letting her body go untended to the point of bedsores and maggots is an entirely separate matter." He continued, "Having a mental illness can lead to not sleeping well, not eating, or not washing properly, resulting in poor physical care. But bedsores, maggots, and necrosis on the body are a humanitarian issue."
He went on, "The examiner who performed the autopsy (on the NCO's wife) said he had seen maggots on a living person only once before. A case of neglect like this — I don't think it could happen anywhere in the world, let alone in 21st-century Korea where people live together." He added, "Finding larvae on a living person is something I had only seen in textbooks. Such cases might occur during wartime, but this is the first time I've seen it actually happen."
He continued, "We should focus less on the shock caused by the maggots and more on the neglect in which that person was placed. This is not a simple marital matter. We need to pay direct attention to abandonment — leaving someone to the point of death."
◇ Murder Charges Applied Instead of "Aggravated Abandonment Resulting in Death"… Sentencing on June 2 = Military prosecutors initially applied murder charges rather than aggravated abandonment resulting in death, judging that Kim had sufficiently recognized the possibility of his wife's death yet still neglected her. Prosecutors concluded that "murder by omission (failing to do what one ought to do) can be established." Their view is that Kim should effectively be regarded as having committed murder by intentionally neglecting his wife despite anticipating her death.
In letters and diary entries left by the victim before her death, she had written, "Please take me to the hospital. May I ask you?" and "Would it be alright if I died?" according to reports.
Kim's sentencing is scheduled for June 2.
