Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for forcing his wife to get a tattoo saying “Forever my wife” on suspicion of infidelity

By KTimes

A man in his twenties has been sentenced to five years in prison for attacking his wife and forcing her to tattoo his name on her body after he accused her of infidelity following his release from prison.

The Supreme Court's First Division, headed by Judge Noh Tae-ak, upheld the lower court's ruling on Tuesday and imposed a five-year prison sentence on 29-year-old Kim, who was charged with several offenses, including aggravated deprivation of liberty causing injury, assault and coercion.

Shortly after his release from prison in July last year, Kim was put on trial for repeatedly assaulting his wife after suspecting her of having an affair.

He reportedly threatened her, saying, “If your feelings for me are real, get a tattoo on your body,” and forced her to get phrases like “I will live forever as (Kim's name) woman” tattooed on four different parts of her body.

Kim was also accused of locking his wife at home for nine hours and 30 minutes and attacking her during an interrogation about the alleged affair, resulting in injuries including a ruptured eardrum.

He also forcibly cut her hair with scissors and forced her to watch snake videos, saying: “Every moment is a million times more painful to me than your hatred of snakes.”

In the first trial, Kim was sentenced to five years in prison. The court stated: “The victim probably suffered great fear and pain, and the severity of the injuries is not minor.” Kim's seven previous convictions for violent crimes are an aggravating circumstance.

However, the court considered it a mitigating circumstance that Kim paid the victim 13 million won ($9,750) as part of a settlement and that the victim did not want to be punished.

In the second trial, Kim claimed that he was mentally impaired at the time of the crime, but the court rejected this argument.

The Court of Appeal ruled: “Although it can be seen that he was prone to some degree to impulse control at the time of the crime, this cannot be regarded as comparable to a mental illness.”

The Supreme Court also considered this verdict appropriate and rejected Kim's appeal, making his five-year prison sentence final.

This article from Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.