Woman's 17-year sentence upheld for killing son for possibly inheriting illness
The woman was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis, a disease affecting the kidneys, in January 2025 and strangled her son to death that June after fearing that he had inherited the same illness.
An illustration depicts a child curled up against a dark background.JOONGANG ILBO
A court upheld the 17-year prison sentence for a woman charged with killing her 9-year-old son after she suspected that he had inherited her illness.
The Seoul High Court upheld the prison sentence on July 24 and dismissed appeals from both the woman and the prosecution, the JoongAng Ilbo reported on Tuesday.
The woman is accused of strangling her son to death with her husband’s necktie in June 2025.
The woman, who already had symptoms of depression, was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis in January 2025. After researching the condition online, she came to believe it was an incurable disease that would worsen over time. Her son later began showing similar symptoms, including blood in his urine, and visited several hospitals. This led the mother to believe that her son had inherited glomerulonephritis.
“I’m not healthy. I want to die,” the son allegedly said once while expressing his distress.
Glomerulonephritis is a condition involving inflammation of the glomeruli, or structures in the kidneys that filter waste from the blood. The condition can be hereditary but can also be caused by acquired factors such as infections.
The woman claimed that in June 2025, while watching her son play a video game in the living room, she impulsively committed the crime after having the sudden thought that she should end his pain and allow him to be at peace.
The trial court sentenced her to 17 years in prison and barred her from working at child-related institutions for 10 years.
A person walks across the lobby at Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on May 6.JOINT PRESS CORPS
“The young victim […] lost his life at the hands of his own mother, whom he had no choice but to depend on completely,” the court said. “Such an inhumane crime carries even greater culpability and warrants strong condemnation.”
The trial court recognized that the woman had diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime due to a depressive disorder based on a psychiatric examination, psychological assessment and other findings. However, the court declined to grant a statutory reduction in her sentence.
The court also cited factors such as how the son had not been definitively diagnosed with glomerulonephritis. But the woman still became despondent, ignored recommendations from her husband and sister-in-law to seek treatment for her depression and ultimately committed the crime.
The court did, however, consider the facts that she turned herself in immediately after the crime, admitted to the offense and showed deep remorse in her favor.
The woman appealed the decision, arguing that the trial court had acted unfairly by declining to grant a statutory sentence reduction based on her diminished mental capacity. The prosecution also appealed, arguing that the sentence was too lenient.
“Even if it is recognized that the crime was committed in a state of diminished mental capacity, whether to grant a statutory reduction is within the court’s discretion,” the appellate court said. “The arguments raised by the woman and the prosecution appear to have already been presented during the proceedings in the trial court or sufficiently taken into account by the trial court in determining the sentence.”
BY KIM YE-JUNG [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
