“Living expenses cut off”: Life sentence upheld for father in his 60s who shot and killed his son with a homemade gun after the son prepared a birthday feast

[Financial News] A man in his 60s who shot and killed his son with a homemade gun at his own birthday party and attempted to kill his daughter-in-law and grandchildren as well has had his life sentence upheld by the Supreme Court.
According to legal sources on the 7th, the Supreme Court Third Division, with Justice Eom Sang-pil presiding, said it had dismissed the appeal by Cho, 63, who was indicted on charges including murder, attempted murder and attempted arson of an occupied building, and upheld the lower court’s sentence of life imprisonment. It also upheld the order requiring him to wear an electronic tracking device for 20 years.
Cho was sent to trial on charges of firing a homemade gun and killing his son at the son’s home in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on July 20 last year, and attempting to kill four other people, including his daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
At the time, family members had gathered at the son’s home for Cho’s birthday. Cho went outside to retrieve the homemade gun he had prepared in advance, then returned and rang the doorbell. When his son opened the door, Cho fired twice at him, killing him. He then attempted to kill his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren inside the home, as well as an acquaintance who fled to the apartment stairwell, but was unsuccessful.
From August 2021 to September 2023, Cho received monthly living-expense support of 3.2 million won each from his ex-wife and his son, for a total of 6.4 million won. He concealed the fact that he was receiving duplicate support from both. When this later came to light, the support was stopped beginning in November 2023 for a period matching the time during which the payments had been duplicated.
Investigators found that Cho later became delusional, believing that his ex-wife and son had deceived and isolated him, and decided to kill his son’s family. From August 2024, he prepared for the crime by watching online videos and making a homemade gun out of steel pipes, among other things, as well as modifying old shotgun cartridges.
Before the crime, he also prepared to set fire to the apartment in Seoul’s Dobong-gu district where he lived. He installed automatic ignition devices and other equipment in nine locations inside the home and set them to activate simultaneously about 19 hours later.
However, after Cho was arrested, he disclosed his arson plan, and a police SWAT team dismantled the devices about eight hours before they were due to ignite, preventing an actual fire.
At trial, the key issue was whether he could be punished for attempted arson of an occupied building when no fire had actually been started.
The Supreme Court ruled that installing automatic ignition devices and completing the settings for their activation could be considered the start of the execution of arson. Although Cho did not actually light a fire, the court found that setting the devices’ activation time meant he had entered the execution stage of the crime.
The first trial had sentenced Cho to life imprisonment and ordered him to wear an electronic tracking device for 20 years. The second trial also dismissed both Cho’s and the prosecution’s appeals.
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