Kim So-young, 20, who is standing trial on charges of "drug killing," has flatly denied committing the crimes in the additional case indicted by prosecutors.
At the third hearing held Wednesday before the 14th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Oh Byung-hee, Kim's defense attorney said, "The defendant admits to having met the three victims at the dates and places stated in the indictment," but argued, "She did not put drugs in wine glasses or hand over hangover-relief products mixed with crushed pills."
Kim's side also expressed opposition to the electronic monitoring device order requested by prosecutors. The attorney requested its dismissal, saying, "The defendant denies the crime itself and poses no risk of reoffending."
In April, prosecutors additionally indicted Kim on charges of aggravated bodily harm and violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances). According to the indictment, Kim is accused of secretly slipping drugs containing benzodiazepine-class psychotropic substances into alcohol or hangover-relief products and having three men drink them between October last year and January this year, rendering them unconscious.
Prosecutors believe that in October last year, at a restaurant in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Kim put drugs in the wine glass of a victim identified as A, causing him to lose consciousness. They also applied charges that in November of the same year, at a motel in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, she handed A a hangover-relief product containing drugs, leaving him in an unconscious state.
Prosecutors also judge that in January this year, at a hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, a motel in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and a singing establishment in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, Kim handed victims B and C drinks containing psychotropic substances while pretending they were hangover-relief products, having them drink and rendering them unconscious, thereby causing bodily harm.
This case was indicted jointly after additional criminal circumstances were confirmed during the existing investigation. Kim is separately standing trial on charges of handing drug-laced drinks to three men between December last year and February this year, killing two of them and leaving one in an unconscious state.
Including the additional charges, the total number of victims confirmed so far is six. Of these, two have died.
At an earlier first hearing, Kim's side had also denied the charges, admitting to having handed over the drinks but maintaining that there was no intent to kill.
At Wednesday's trial, prosecutors requested witness examinations of the three victims related to the additional indictment case, which the court accepted. The witness examinations of the victims are scheduled to take place on July 14.
