“I’ll say my final goodbye”: College student pulls out a weapon after being rejected for a relationship [True Crime Story]

[Financial News] A college student who went to a woman’s home with a weapon and acted as though they were going to kill themself after their proposal to date was rejected received a suspended prison sentence.
According to legal sources on the 9th, the 13th Single-Judge Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Judge Jang Won-jung, sentenced A, 24, who was indicted on a charge of aggravated intimidation, to six months in prison, suspended for two years, on the 19th of last month. The court also ordered probation and 80 hours of community service.
A was indicted after allegedly going to the home of B, a 20-year-old woman who was either A’s senior or junior at their university, with a weapon after she rejected A’s proposal to date on June 23.
According to the ruling, A proposed to B that morning that she break up with her boyfriend and date A. B rejected the proposal, saying, “No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think breaking up with my boyfriend is the right thing to do.”
That afternoon, B reiterated during a phone call with A that she could not date A. She said, “My feelings won’t change, and I won’t take that back. We can never be together.”
Angered by this, A put a knife kept at A’s home into a bag and went to B’s home at around 8:10 p.m. A told B, who was standing in front of the building’s shared entrance, “I came to say goodbye for the last time,” then took the knife out of the bag and acted as though they were going to kill themself.
The court found that A’s actions constituted aggravated intimidation. Citing Supreme Court of Korea precedents, it held that intimidation is not limited to cases where someone threatens to directly harm another person. The crime can also be established if someone causes another person fear by acting as though they are going to take their own life. The court ruled, “It does not appear that A tried to physically harm the victim directly,” but “acting as though they were going to kill themself and thereby exerting psychological pressure was enough to cause fear.”
The court also rebuked A, saying the behavior was socially unacceptable. Judge Jang said, “Because of A’s obsession with and lingering attachment to the victim, A repeatedly talked about suicide and pressured her to break up with her boyfriend,” adding, “I believe the victim must have suffered considerable psychological distress and anxiety, and she is seeking severe punishment.”
However, the court considered it in A’s favor that the defendant was still very young, had no prior criminal record, and could be rehabilitated through probation and other measures.


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